The RWBY Spider 2
by Scam Man
Summary: Arden Ambrose continues to fight crime, both ordinary and super powered. With new allies and enemies rising from each dark corner, Arden must rise above amazing feats to become the Ultimate Spider-Man! (Note: please read the first RWBY Spider story or otherwise you will be lost).
1. Chapter 1

**PROLOGUE**

_**Vale City, 20 years into the future**_

** Gregory Stiles and his wife and daughter were running through the deserted ruined streets of Vale City, trying to evade a Condor patrol. Gregory led his family into an alleyway and they tucked themselves behind a dumpster. The Condors fly by and the family lets out breaths of relief.**

** "Daddy, are the monsters gone?" his eight year old daughter Hilary asked.**

** "Yes sweetheart, they're gone," Gregory responded.**

** "We can't keep running like this, we need to find shelter," his wife Rene said.**

** "There isn't shelter safe enough from those things"! Hilary cringed at her father's outburst and Rene just looked at him angrily. "I'm sorry, we'll just keep moving." No sooner did the family stand then three human sized Ultron Sentinels descend from the sky and raised their right arms, preparing to fire their repulsor rays. Gregory puts himself between his family and the machines as Hilary began to cry.**

_**"Scanning…three humans detected," **_**the machine in the middle said, "**_**Assessment…potential threats, commencing termination."**_

__**"Close your eyes baby," Rene said to Hilary as the repulsor energy built up. Just then an unknown warrior fell from the sky, unsheathed a black blade from his back, and sliced the right hands of all three Sentinels. He spun while cutting off the middle machines head, stabbed the one to his right in the face, and was about to hack apart the last one when a web line shot out and it jerked upward. As the Sentinel went up, a second figure jumped down, collided with it, and reduced it to scrap.**

** The first hero was a man nearly twenty wearing a black sweatshirt with a hood, black pants, and a grenade belt with special pumpkin bombs on them. A scabbard was attached to his back to house the mysterious black bladed sword he wielded. As he slowly sheathed his weapon, he turned to look at the second hero with his green eyes. He smiled showing his canines and said, "Better late than never boss."**

** Hilary got a good look and said, "Mommy, Daddy, it's…"**

_**Vale City National Bank, Present Day, Saturday June 25**__**th**__**, 8:32 pm**_

** "…SPIDER-MAN"! Yelled one of the bank robbers as he and his five accomplices looked up and saw Spider-Man hanging from the ceiling.**

** "Yeah, hey, I came to make a deposit, where does the line start?" Arden joked. The six bank robbers opened fire and Arden jumps out of the way while turning invisible.**

** "Where the hell did he go?" one of them asked while another went over to the screaming group of hostages and yelled at them to be silent.**

** "Peek-a-boo"! Arden decloaks and socks a robber in the face while disarming two more with his web lines. He rolls out of the way of a shotgun blast and jumps up onto a stone pillar. "Okay, a few things," Arden jumps from one pillar to another in the square formation of the bank's foyer to avoid the hail of bullets. "One," he jumps back down, kicks a guy in the gut, and propels another forward with his webbing, slamming him into a pillar, "It has only been a week since Goblin and HYDRA's attack and guys like you thought crime was the best way to honor those who died." He back flips a few times to avoid the remaining three robbers' gunfire and webs up to the second floor balcony.**

** "Keep your eyes up there, I got an idea," said the leader to his two remaining subordinates. They aimed their assault rifles waiting for the web slinging freak to pop his head out. Spider-Man jumped up and wall ran to the left toward the exit as the robbers shot at him. They thought they hit him, but they didn't see Arden jump out of the way at the last second, leaving an accelerated decoy behind, and jumped behind them. He powered up his Aura, activated a Venom Sting on each hand, and tapped the two clueless thieves on the shoulder. **

"**Two, what kind of weird name is 'Crazy 88's' for a group of bank robbers? What does it even mean?"**

"**NO, PLEASE TAKE ME INSTEAD, NOT MY RENE"! An older woman yelled from the hostage group. The leader of the robbers came over with a sixteen year old girl with a gun to her head.**

"**I'll tell you what Crazy 88's means Spider-Freak," the robber said. "With the return of the Skull, we'll wipe the Faunus, Mutants, and all undesirable riffraff off the face of Remnant. Change 88 to HH and you get Hail HYDRA"!**

"**Oh great, just what the city needs, another wannabe terrorist group"! Spider-Man said.**

"**We ain't any wannabe's freak"! The leader puts the gun right at the whimpering girl's temple and continued his rant, "We'll kill all y'all in a hail of bullets, clouds of gas, and a sea of fire, that is once we get the cash to finance our war."!**

"**And that's the other thing," Arden flicks his wrist and webs the gun out of his hand. He loses his grip on the girl and she runs away as Arden runs up and taps him on the forehead with a Venom Sting. The thug goes down convulsing and finally, paralyzed. "Spider-Man will always be there to stop injustice."**

**The RWBY Spider 2**

**Disclaimer: This story contains characters created by both Marvel Comics and Roosterteeth. While some are OC's the rest are not and I don't own them. Please support both groups because of the amazing time and dedication they take to entertain their fans.**

**Next Time: The Red Hood**

**Alright folks I know I said I would debut the RWBY Spider 2 and RWBY: The X-Factor with their first story arcs completed but I couldn't help myself from releasing their prologue chapters early. So enjoy these small tastes of what's to come. **


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 1: THE RED HOOD**

_**Downtown Vale, 8:35 pm**_

** Celeste Gunny was walking down the sidewalk minding her own business as she was on her way to the club with some girlfriends. She was a young twenty something wearing a short blue skirt and black sweatshirt (it was a little chilly out but she will take it off when she gets to the club). She was about to pass an alleyway when three hooligans casually strolled out from the shadows and surrounded her. "Hey there pretty lady, where you off to?" the guy in facing her said. The other two behind her nodded their heads with stupid grins on their faces.**

** Nervous, Celeste replied, "Just going to the club to meet some friends." The guy moves closer and gets right in her face. She lifts up her purse and adds, "Look, just take my purse; there ain't much money but plenty of credit cards." The crook takes in and inspects it with one hand. He drops it and kicks it into the alleyway.**

** "Why bother since you'd probably cancel them when you get home. Besides, I have a sweet tooth, and you are my candy." The girl panics and knows she can't get away so she stupidly runs into the alleyway. One of the punks behind her grabbed her by her sweatshirt's hood; she lets it come off over her head to reveal she has a white t-shirt on. Celeste stumbles and falls and the lead thug lands on top off her, flips her on her back and tears at her shirt. "This won't hurt…much."**

** Suddenly a shot rang out and impacted on the wall to the lead thug's left side. He jumps up off the girl and he and his pals turn to the direction of the shot. Celeste crawls behind a garbage pail and only caught glimpses of what happened next.**

** A figure wearing a red hooded sweatshirt covering his/her eyes with matching sweatpants carried a giant scythe over his/her shoulder. All three crooks pull out their guns and pointed them at the mystery figure.**

** "Who's this supposed to be Frankie?" one thug asked the leader.**

** "Who cares, waste'em"! Frankie replies. They opened fire but the figure, quick as lightning, moved the scythe with the curve of the blade facing behind him/her and fired a few rounds, propelling him/her forward. He/she swung the blade right at the nape of the first thug's neck, just missing him, as the blade dug into the wall. Using the momentum of the swing, he/she pulls him/herself forward and buries the soles of his/her boots into the creeps neck, sending him flying into the back wall. The red hooded vigilante jumps up and lands his/her right heel on the top of the second thugs head, dropping him instantly. Frankie's gun was shaking in his hand as the figure casually removed her weapon so fast and with enough force that the back end of the giant weapon slams into the side of Frankie's skull, knocking him out instantly. The threat averted, the figure pulled out his/her cellphone and called the police and fired a round to the ground, sending her skyward and onto the rooftops above.**

_**Vale City National Bank, 8:44 pm**_

** The police were escorting the bank robbers into the back of a van at the sound of the crowd's cheering at their capture and Spider-Man's victory. Commissioner Franklin Quaid walked up the steps to the bank and shook Spider-Man's hand. "Nicely done Web Head, the hostages are safe, all the bad guys are in custody, and only minimum collateral damage. You sure you don't want a job?"**

** "No thanks Commish, I already have one," Arden responds. "Speaking of which, congrats on your promotion, it was well deserved."**

** "Yeah, though I feel I don't deserve it. Anyway, there's a rumor going around that another vigilante is cleaning up crime using a very large, non-standard issue weapon. Based on witness descriptions, all they can tell about this guy is the fact he or she wears a red hooded sweatshirt. The boys down at headquarters have dubbed him the Red Hood."**

** "Red Hood huh, sound like I got a little Friendly Neighborhood competition."**

** Quaid was about to respond when his radio static went off. **_**"All units we have reports of a 261A at an alley on 3**__**rd**__** and Abel, please respond**_**."**

** Spider-Man jumps up and web slings to the location and Quaid picks up his radio and says, "Copy that, Spider-Man is enroute to the 261A to investigate, I'll send a squad car to follow up, over."**

_**Downtown Vale, 8:48 pm**_

** Arden jumps down into the alleyway to find that the thugs have already been taken care of. He looks down over one of them to see he has boot prints on his face and there were shell casings littered all over the ground. A garbage pail tips over and Arden looks to see a frightened young woman huddled together on the ground. She was shaking nervously, her brown hair was a mess, and her mascara was running from sobbing. A black sweatshirt lay at her feet and the right side of her white shirt's collar was torn. It didn't take Spider-Man long to figure out what might've happened if these thugs weren't stopped. Arden kneels down to her eye level and asks, "Are you okay?"**

** "Y-yes, I-I am n-now," the girl said stuttering between breathes.**

** "Can you tell me what happened here?"**

** "I was j-just some friends w-when these cr-cr-creeps jumped me. They were going to…to," she broke down in a sob and Spider-Man softly grabbed her arm.**

** "It's okay, they won't hurt you now." He looks back over at them and back at the girl. "Can you tell me who did this?"**

** She sniffs her nose and answers, "I didn't get a good look from where I hid. Actually, it was all over so fast that the only things I noticed were that my hero used a gun or something and wore a red hood."**

_**This "Hoodie" again, Quaid talked about this newbie back at the bank**_** Arden thought. He heard sirens approaching and said, "The cops are on their way, they'll take good care of you."**

** As Arden jumped on the back wall and climbed the girl called out, "If you see the Red Hood, give my thanks"!**

** Arden makes it to the roof and starts web slinging, continuing his patrol for more criminals and possibly a sighting from his new ally.**

_**Hardy Manor, 9:12 pm**_

** Felicia Hardy sat on the bed of her old room while thinking about only two things; seeing Isis in time for her Sweet Sixteen and the first job she'll pull with the newly formed Thieves Guild. During the Battle for Vale City, the Goblin broke into Ravencroft in an attempt to raise an army. When all the cells were opened, Felicia and Cleopatra came under attack from a bunch of inmates who have been locked up for years. Though they were more than capable of taking down a few inmates and security guards, they didn't argue when their oldest acquaintance Aaron Davis came running in guns blazing with his new partner, a mutant named Remy Lebeau. After the four broke out they decided to lay low until the heat was off and the cops weren't looking for them. Fortunately with the police force still recovering and they already searched their old house, it seemed sensible to stay in the old home.**

** As Felicia continued to think about recent events, Remy was sitting on the ground tossing playing cards into a bowler hat he stole from Roman Torchwick back at Ravencroft. He was a young man about nineteen with brown hair and a trench coat with an armored black stealth suit underneath. He has black eyes with red pupils and a telescoping Bo staff lying on the ground next to him. Remy told the feline Faunus that though they can keep calling him Remy, he also would accept his trade name Gambit. The mutant thief turns his head to the direction of banging down in the hall in a guest room and inquires, "those two sho' makin a lot of noise, **_**oui?"**_

__**"We haven't seen Aaron in years, it was a nice surprise," Felicia responds.**

** Gambit throws another card and swears when he misses. "Ain' it a bit awkward tha tyour kin is sleep'n wit an olda man?"**

** "Aaron's only eight years older and besides, Cleopatra sacrificed a lot to raise me and Isis after Aaron left, so I think she deserves some kind of passion. Though I agree with you when I wish they would have done this somewhere where my cat ears can't hear them"! She yelled the last part in the direction of the rapidly increasing rhythm. There was silence, and Felicia gave a sigh of relief. "Thank God they're finally done"!**

** "**_**Oui, mon beau felin**_**, tha was get'in disturbin. So, wha do ya think of dis new arrangement?"**

** "Not too shabby I suppose, four thieves are certainly better than two. But I'm a little uneasy about working with another anonymous client; the last one kidnapped my little sister."**

** "Not tworry **_**Mon chat noir**_**, if anybody gonna mess wit **_**vous**_** or your family…," he gets up and walks over to the window to open it. He takes one of his playing cards, charges up its kinetic energy and throws it at a bush. The shrubbery explodes and leaves a small crater. "They gotta git through ol Gambit first."**

**Next Time: Preparations **


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 2: PREPARATIONS**

_**The Home of Arden Ambrose, Sunday June 26**__**th**__** 9:21 am**_

** Arden jumped down the stairs after a good night's rest to join his family for a quick breakfast. His mom set a plate of pancakes for him and Isis, sat down and asked, "Morning sweetheart, what's on the agenda today besides the usual?"**

** Cutting into the first pancake, Arden replied, "I'm starting the first day of my new job, remember?"**

** "Oh yes," Dr. Ambrose interjected, "You're Mr. Dunbar's new assistant, the reporter who knows your secret identity and could expose you in a moment's notice." Alison smacked her husband's arm at his comment.**

** "It's not like that dad, he's a good man and swore to keep my secret. He even said that this new job could even **_**benefit**_** my superhero career." Three days after the funeral, Dex came to Arden and offered him the position of his assistant after Roxanne resigned. It was understandable her being the Goblin's girlfriend and mother of his child. Dex has done everything in his power to keep other news media outlets from disturbing the poor girl in her depressed state.**

** "I'm just saying son, we never know the true character of a person until they are pushed to their breaking point. I'll let you think about that while I go off to work. Isis, I'll give you a lift to your community service so let's go." Dr. Ambrose picked up his keys and headed out the door.**

** "Arden, did you find anything about my sisters yet?" Isis asked as she got up.**

** "Nothing yet, but I'll ask Dex and see if he can help me come up with something." Isis smiles and follows Dr. Ambrose out the door. After finishing his own breakfast, Arden goes up to his room and changes into his costume. Before he swung out, he heard a knock at his door.**

** "Oh, Arden, don't forget to bring Yang's gift for her party tonight," his mom said.**

** "Don't worry mom I'll pick it up after my patrol." Arden looks out his window to make sure no one was watching and jumped out, web slinging to the VNN station.**

_**The Home of Ruby Rose, 9:30 am**_

** Ruby was snoring loudly through her alarm clock as it blared; both noises were pissing off Yang. She slams her fist on Ruby's clock, breaking it into a billion pieces, and she **_**still**_** was sound asleep. Yang moves her head right next to Ruby's ear and whispers, "Ruby…," she backs up and takes a deep breath and shouts, "WAKE UP"! Ruby snaps awake and falls out of her bed. She rubs her head and tries to remember who she was and why she was on the floor until she snaps back to reality.**

** "Yang, why are you making so much noise?" she asks.**

** "I'M MAKING SO MUCH NOISE?"! Yang backs up, takes another breath and says more calmly, "Dear baby sister, you were snoring all night. It sounded like an entire cave full of Ursas. How much sleep did you get last night?"**

** "I don't know, why are you asking?"**

** "I'm asking because I didn't get any due to your annoying snoring! Now I'm going to be tired for my party tonight, so thanks for that."**

** Ruby looked guilty; she did not mean to upset her sister. "I'm sorry Yang, I promise to make it up to you."**

** Yang looked sincere at her sister's apology and added, "Just make sure you got me a kick ass graduation present." Yang walks out of the room and heads to the bathroom to brush her hair.**

** "Oh yeah, sure it will be the best gift ever, of all time." **_**Oh crap I totally forgot a gift **_**she thought.**

_**VNN station, 9:54 am**_

** After changing on the roof, Arden snuck into the vents and ended up in the men's room. He crawled into a stall and came out and walked straight to Dexter Dunbar's office. "Sorry I'm late Dex, I had to stop a purse snatcher and save a jay walker from being street pizza," Arden explained.**

** Dex looked up from his phone and looked at the clock, "You kidding kid, you're a couple minutes early. Try to do that every time I ask you to come here because the boss will love that. Speaking of which…" A dark skinned man with white hair wearing a simple light blue shirt, black pants and a tie came to Dunbar's office, "…Arden Ambrose, this is the station manager, Joseph Robertson. Mr. Robertson, meet my new assistant." Arden shook hands with the older man.**

** "Please Arden call me Robbie, I prefer that," Robbie said. "Dex has told me a lot about you."**

** "He has?" Arden asked, looking at the reporter. "Like what?"**

** "He told me that you're a good, honest, hardworking young man trying to make some extra cash to help out your family, I hope you will benefit from working here not just from wealth but knowledge."**

** "Thanks uh, Robbie, I hope to learn a lot too." Robertson nods and lets his ace reporter and assistant chat. Arden waits for his new boss to be out of earshot and pulls out a memory card. "Here Dex, "exclusive, amateur" video provided by an "anonymous" hostage from the bank heist last night." Arden slides the card to Dex and he puts it into the computer. Before he took out the robbers, Arden webbed his phone at an angle on the second floor where anyone can get a shot and activated its recorder. Dex asked Arden to provide exclusive footage of Spider-Man for VNN because the head of the network, Robbie's boss, will give a commission for footage of the "Masked Menace". "Why does the network executive have it out for me? Who is he anyway?"**

** "His name is J. Jonah Jameson, John Jameson's father," Dex responded as Arden went silent. "As for his reasons, you'll have to ask him if he ever sets foot here."**

** "His son was a good man; I wish I could have saved him."**

** "Don't beat yourself up; I'm sure you did everything you could. Don't dwell on the past; you need to look to the future."**

** "Yeah, speaking of which, do you have any leads on the Hardy sisters?"**

** Dex looks up his files and searches through the relevant ones. "Sorry, nothing on them specifically, but one of 'Patch's' contacts did hear about a job going down tonight around seven at the Natural History Museum. A high profile job like that is right up their alley."**

** "Yeah but the Museum again, what could be so valuable that they would strike the same place twice?"**

** "Who knows, the first time was a set up anyway. And besides criminals always return to the scene of the crime, so who cares what it is if you catch them."**

** "Yeah I guess."**

** "Good," Dex looks at the time and gets up, "I better get going; I'm doing an expose on the closure of Alchemax and the arrival of another multi-billion lien company. C'mon, we need to leave together. Once we're a safe distance from the building we'll pull off so you can go on patrol." Arden nods as he and Dex head for the exit.**

** "Oh, one last thing, do you have anything on the Red Hood?"**

** "Sorry I got nothing; this guy is too new to have any dirt on him. You'll just have to catch him and interrogate him yourself."**

_**Outside the former Alchemax Tower, 10:29 am**_

** Dexter Dunbar stared into the camera as its operator counted down to one before the light turned on and he began. "Hello folks Dexter Dunbar here providing you coverage of what everyone has been waiting for since the aftermath of last week's attack; the closure of Alchemax." A crane behind the reporter was lifting the Alchemax insignia off the ground and another one put in a new one with the acronym A.I.M. "As you know one week ago it was discovered that the head of Alchemax's board of directors Dell Rusk was actually the Human/Faunus Great War criminal and HYDRA leader the Red Skull, a man who took control of the company's Grimm Slayers and another group of robots called Sentinels in an attempt to destroy the city. It was also discovered he had collaborators in many of the company's scientists in his endeavors and the assistance of fellow board member Kron O'Hara and Tyler Stone, who it turned out was the Goblin. While it is unknown why Mr. O'Hara took part, the young Mr. Stone apparently did this for personal reasons. Adding to these shocking events was the revelation that Alchemax CEO Tiberius Stone hired a White Fang terrorist cell to attack his own son's graduation ceremony and sabotage the Zeus Crystal at Dillon Power. The Red Skull, the Stones and the other collaborators are being held by S.P.E.A.R and the district attorney will be discussing trial details soon. The combinations of these events have bankrupted Alchemax and they have just recently been bought out by one of its competitors; Advance Ideal Mechanics. While the CEO of A.I.M Aldrich Killian could not be here to do an interview, he did say he would 'Do everything in his power to make Vale City the City of Tomorrow'. Speaking to you today, I'm Dexter Dunbar, stay safe out there."**

_**Hardy Manor, 11:56 am**_

** Aaron, Felicia, Cleopatra and Remy stood around the dining room table discussing tonight's heist. Because the Hardy sisters pulled this job before, it didn't take them long to show the others the best entry ways into the museum, unfortunately without Isis's technical skills the cameras will spot them, a fact that Cleo noticed that Aaron did not care about.**

** "So is there anything specific that we'll be appropriating tonight?" Felicia asked.**

** "No, this will be a simple snatch and grab job," Aaron replied, "We get in, clean the Jewelry Exhibit of its valuables, and get out."**

** "Seems like a waste of my talents no?" Remy asked.**

** "You'll be there to back us up if the cops present a danger."**

** "Or that Spider-Man, I can't wait to dig my claws into him again," Felicia added.**

** "Have you forgotten he saved us from Shocker the last time we we're there?" said Cleo.**

** "Have **_**you**_** forgotten he was the reason we got sent to prison kept and our family apart?"**

** "Enough," Prowler interjected, "We need to stay focused, the three of you should go do reconnaissance on the museum in the event security has been updated. Keep your heads low and inform me of any complications." The three young thieves nod and exit the mansion in their disguises. Once he was alone, Prowler took out one of his disposable cellphones and called the listed number. "It's me, calling to inform you that Operation Scapegoat is still on track."**

_**"Good, let's hope it is a big enough spectacle to distract everyone long enough for our job to get done. Destroy your phone once this call is done, don't call us again, we'll inform you on another phone, Trickshot out."**_

**Next Time: Thieves and Vigilantes**__


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 3: THIEVES AND VIGILANTES**

_**3 blocks from the Natural History Museum, 6:55 pm**_

** Arden staked out the Museum far enough away so that he wouldn't be ambushed into a trap. He found it suspicious that the Hardy's would strike the same place twice and felt like this was more an act of revenge against him. Plus, according to Isis, her sisters know exactly where she is and could barge into his home any moment to take her back. The fact they haven't yet astounds him but he has to bring them in before they do. Arden snaps back to reality when his phone rings. "Talk to me," he said.**

_**"Arden where are you?" **_**his mom asked, **_**"I haven't seen you since this morning."**_

** "Sorry mom, I guess I got absorbed into my patrol today. And right about know I'm on a stake out to catch Isis's kleptomaniac sisters."**

_**"Oh, at least Isis will be happy to know that her sisters will be going back to jail."**_

** "Is there something wrong?"**

_**"Arden ever since the attack you have been self-absorbed in your job, both your real one and Spider-Man activities, that you don't have time for family. You've been missing dinners, you've been coming home late, and you probably won't make it to Yang's party tonight."**_

** "I will be there mom; I'll just be running late that's all."**

_**"I hope so; just make sure not to come too late. Also, Ruby Rose called me earlier. You remember her don't you?"**_

__**"How can I forget a girl carrying a giant weapon who likes to wear a…red…hood." **_**You have got to be kidding me **_**Arden thought.**

_**"Arden, are you alright?"**_

** "Uh yeah, listen I got to go and stop this burglary okay love you bye," Arden hangs up the phone swings off and thinks **_**How the hell did I miss that?**_** As Arden swings closer to the museum, three knives come out of nowhere and sever the web line. He falls and just as he lands, a glowing playing card flies out of nowhere. Arden backflips and finds himself surrounded by a guy on metal wings and a red eyed teen with glowing cards. Isis's sisters came running out with their weapons drawn, though Arden noticed they looked confused.**

_**Gamma Base, 7:00 pm**_

** At the entrance to Gamma Base, two soldiers stood guard, keeping watch of any unwanted visitors. One of them turns to his pal and says, "Hey."**

** The other turns and replies "Yeah."**

** "Do you ever wonder why…?" Suddenly an arrow shoots out from the darkness and hits the questioner in the forehead. The other soldier turns and points his assault rifle towards the darkness and is met with an arrow piercing his heart.**

** Over four hundred feet away Callum Barton A.K.A Trickshot watched as the guards went down and reached for his radio. "Watchdogs have been put down, all squads move in." Four military grade trucks drive up, Trickshot jumps into the last one as it passes, and they ram through the gate. Several dozen soldiers wearing balaclavas, military vests, and desert cargo jeans jump out and start shooting at everyone and everything in sight. Sewn onto their vests over their hearts was a circular symbol made of ten interlocking circles with crossing swords in the center. **

**Trickshot steps out and points to the driver. "Take this over to hanger 6," he then points to five soldiers and says, "You five, with me." With his escort, they proceed to hanger 6 for the second phase of the operation.**

_**Outside the Natural History Museum, 7:01 pm**_

** "Prowler, what are you doing?" Cleopatra asked. "I thought we were only going to fight the Spider if he interfered with the job?"**

** "Sorry babe but this **_**is**_** the job," he replied. "The heist was only a distraction to draw out the Web Slinger."**

** "I thought something was odd," Felicia added, "Dad always told us never to hit the same place twice. I should have known this was something else."**

** "If I wanted to be an assassin, I would've stayed in Vacuo an' joined their guild," Gambit said. "What's your play **_**mon ami**_**?"**

** "Just following orders, so any of you still with me?" Prowler asked.**

** Gambit sighs and says, "**_**Oui**_**, les just get dis over wit."**

** "Oh you better believe I'm with you," Felicia adds as she sharpens her Claws of Bastet.**

** Cleo looks at Spider-Man, pauses to think, and says. "I'm sorry; I swear this isn't what I thought this was. But I will do what I must." She unfurls her Nine Tails and snaps them at Arden. He jumps back to avoid them and side steps when Felicia comes charging with her claws. At that time Remy extends his bo-staff and charges some energy into it. He twirls it and swipes at Arden's head, who leans back to watch it swipe past him. Gambit uses the momentum of the swing to twirl his own body and slams the end of the staff onto the ground, sending a shockwave of kinetic energy around him. Arden could not dodge as he was thrown back and hits a car, leaving a huge dent into the driver side and the car alarm blared. Arden pricked up his head in time to see several metal knives hurtling towards him. He dodges by rolling to the left and the knives imbed themselves into the door.**

_**This isn't good**_** Arden thought. **_**I'm outnumbered and it looks like they have a good team dynamic despite the Hardy's cluelessness. I better end this now with a couple of Venom Stings.**_** Arden charges up his Aura and his hands begin to build up with bio electric energy. He sprints forward towards Gambit but was surprised to see Prowler running past the red eyed thieve and intercept Arden. Not changing direction, Spider-Man jabs Prowler in the chest, but was surprised to see the electricity spark around him, unharmed. **_**What?**_

** "I've been made aware of your newfound abilities Wall Crawler," Prowler stated. "So that's why I had an extra layer of insulation added to my suit and amped up my own juice." He grabs Spider-Man by his hand and delivers his own electric shock. The intensity of the power sent Arden flying and he slid steaming onto the street. "What's the matter Web Head, too much power for you to handle?"**

** "You kidding, that felt like a harmless static shock compared to Electro."**

_**Gamma Base, Hanger 6, 7:12 pm**_

** Trickshot and his squad enter the hanger with the sound of gunfire and screaming in the background. He orders two of the troops to open the hanger doors and the truck drives in. As he walked on past fighter jets and transport shuttles, he muttered to himself. "Alright the objective is located in hanger 6-slot 16," he stops to verify his destination to see a human shaped object covered in a white tarp. He removes it to reveal a suit of Iron Man armor colored red and steel grey. He turns to the soldiers and orders them to load it on the truck. As they complied, Trickshot pulls out a phone and makes a call. "This is Trickshot, the Detroit Steel suit has been appropriated and we're moving to the rendezvous." He listens to the response, receives further instructions, hangs up, and drops the phone on the ground. He crushed it under his boot before jumping into the truck.**

_**Outside the Natural History Museum, 7:14 pm**_

** "You're outnumbered Spider-Man, so why not just lay down and die," Prowler bragged.**

** "Sorry, I don't feel tired or the need to stop breathing," Arden responded, "But how about this; surrender now and you'll only have assault and battery on your rap sheet instead of murder."**

** Prowler laughed at the hero's ignorant proposal. "Too late for that Web Slinger, so unless you have a wild card of your own, there is nothing to stop us from finishing you off." Prowler extends his metal wings and fires another volley of several feather shaped knives. However, each knife was shot out in midair from far away. Before anyone can turn their heads to the direction of the shots, a red blur comes out of nowhere with trailing rose petals and stops in the middle. Standing between the thieves and the vigilante hero was a girl in a red hood and combat skirt clutching a giant gun. She lets the gun fall from one hand and uses the other to swing it and switch it into a giant scythe. The weapon lands on her shoulder, resting there until its user re-enters combat.**

_**I freaking knew it**_** Arden thought.**

** "This wild enough for you?" asked a smirking Ruby Rose.**


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 4: PARTNERS IN CRIME FIGHTING**

_**Outside the Natural History Museum, 7:14 pm**_

** Ruby charged and swung her scythe at Gambit, who used his staff to block the blow and followed up with an exploding card. Ruby jumped out of the way and was surprised when Cleo uses her whip to disarm the young vigilante. "Crescent Rose"! She yelled and was kicked from behind by Prowler. The master thief pulled out one of his Smith and Wesson pistols.**

** "Amateur," he scoffs and aims at the girls head. However, Spider-Man shoots a web line and disarms him, and then he ran up and kicked him back. Arden fires another line at Ruby's weapon and gives it to her.**

** She coddles the weapon like a pet and says "Thanks, I don't know what I would do without my baby"!**

** "Stay focused Rookie, we aren't done yet"! Arden yelled and back flipped to avoid the swipes of Felicia's claws. Ruby snaps back to reality in time to avoid another one of Gambit's cards. She activates her Semblance and became a blur as she ran around the thief from South Vacuo. Remy became dizzy just trying to keep track of his opponent and just decided to let loose a barrage of playing cards. He missed every time and Ruby delivered a right hook and the thief went down.**

** Arden continued to evade Felicia's assault while using his Spider Sense to keep track of everyone's movements. Analyzing the environment (which to his perspective made everything seem slower), he noted that Ruby took down the red eyed guy, Cleo was about to engage Ruby, Prowler was getting back on his feet, and Felicia was still trying to scratch him. With the data collected, Arden formulated a plan to end all of this. He leapt over Felicia activating his own Aura in mid jump. The second he landed, he webbed Prowler to the ground, making sure his hands were immobilized so he wouldn't reach his flight harness. Next, he charged his hands for two Venom Stings. When Felicia pivoted and tried slash his head off, Arden ducked, turned, and buried his left hand fingers first into her gut, sparks flying as she went down paralyzed. Arden turned back to see Ruby ready to engage the last enemy, Cleo was ready to unleash the full force of her Nine Tails whip. "Yo Hoodie, step back"!**

** Ruby turns Crescent Rose into its sniper mode and fires forward, not hitting the Faunus thief, and the force sent her backwards. As the whip hit the ground where Ruby once stood, Arden fires a web line with his right hand and tried to disarm Cleopatra. What he didn't anticipate was for the stored up Venom Sting in that hand to travel down the web line and shock Cleo. The woman goes down and the battle was over.**

** "Whoo-hooo, that was awesome"! Ruby yelled aloud running over to him. "How did you do that thing with the electric thing in your hands?"**

** Arden ignored her question as he grabbed her by the arm and web slung both of them to the roof of the museum. Ruby moves a few steps away from him when they landed and looked at the masked hero confused. "I'm sorry but what the hell is wrong with you?"! Arden asked loudly.**

** "What's wrong with **_**me**_**? What's **_**your**_** problem? I was just beating up the bad guys and even saved your life in the process"!**

** "No, you interfered in a very dangerous situation. Based on what I saw out there, you may have been trained to fight, but it looks like you've never been in an actual fight before have you?"**

** "I've been in plenty of fights thank you very much"!**

** "Those halfcocked, amateurish acts of vigilantism I've heard about over the last couple of days do not count! I'm taking about a fight against well trained people with high end weapons tech. I'm taking about evil mutant guys or other types of super humans. Have you been in any one of those fights?"**

** Ruby looked defeated as she answered, "No."**

** "That's what I thought. So why are you out here trying to pick fights against people you know you can't take on?"**

** Ruby lifts up her hood and began her little speech. "My name is Ruby Rose, and I did all this to be more like you." Arden looked confused under his mask and listened. "During the Battle of Vale City when all these brave heroes and Hunters were laying down their lives to fight the White Fang and the Goblin Underground and those machines, I was running for my life with my sister out of the city. I wanted to stay and fight, but my uncle forced my sister Yang and I to evacuate to some military base where we would be safe. I felt powerless, and I didn't know whether or not my uncle was going to get out alive. I hated feeling so powerless, hated the fact that one of the only few loved ones I have left was in mortal danger. So after the battle and when Yang and I reunited with my uncle Qrow, I reinforced my vow to become the greatest Huntress in all of Remnant. But then I thought how could I protect the world if I cannot defend this city? Then I thought of you and all of your great accomplishments, and I thought until I become this great Huntress, I'll dedicate myself to helping Vale City just like Spider-Man"!**

_**Wow Ruby**_** Arden thought **_**I feel for you**_**. "Listen Ruby, I cannot in good conscience let an inexperienced rookie with an oversized scy-file run rampant across the city," Ruby looked defeated and sad at this statement, "**_**But**_**, maybe you won't be so inexperienced once I give you some lessons in what it means to be a hero." The fifteen year old smiled and hugged Arden.**

** "Thank you, I swear you won't regret this"!**

** Arden looked embarrassed under his mask as he heard sirens in the distance. The two vigilantes turn to see several cop cars and vans pull up to the criminals. "Well there's the five-O, I'd stay and chat but I'm running late as it is."**

** Ruby gasped and remembered Yang's party. "Oh my God I'm going to be late"! She sprints away and leaves the web head in the dust.**

** "Wow, she is really fast," Arden said as he jumps and web slings away towards Yang's party in a different direction.**

** Back on the ground, the police began picking up the two Faunus thieves and cutting Prowler free. Commissioner Quaid and Agent Coulson oversaw the entire event. "Commissioner," Coulson began, "Aaron Davis over there is wanted for stealing experimental S.P.E.A.R technology, so he needs to be taken to the Triskellion for proper questioning."**

** "Sounds good to me," Quaid responded, "And thanks for being straight with me for once."**

** "Well since our departments will be working together for some time I thought that honesty would make things run smoother." Davis was being escorted from behind by Agent Ward and taken to the back of an S.P.E.A.R van.**

** "I'm sure Dr. Wilson will be glad to see the punk thief who stole one of his sets of wings," Ward commented.**

** As the van drives off, the Hardy sisters were being dragged into the back of a police cruiser when an explosion nearby forced the officers to take cover. The police, Quaid, and Coulson pulled out there guns. Another explosion and they ducked again. They rose and searched the area, only to discover that Felicia Hardy had disappeared.**

_**The Home of Ruby Rose, 7:32 pm**_

** Arden walked up to Ruby and Yang's place carrying his gift for Yang as the party was in full swing. There were so many of the two sister's friends from Signal dancing in the backyard to the loudest and latest dub-step piece of crap out there. Arden moved around the party to find Ruby sulking in the corner. "Hey Ruby, is something bothering you?" Arden asked as he walked up to her. "Aren't you having fun?"**

** "Yeah I am but I didn't get Yang anything for her graduation," Ruby responded. "I completely forgot and spent all day looking for the perfect gift. I probably would have found one if I didn't…" she stopped and thought of some BS excuse, "…Get sidetracked."**

_**Yeah we're going to have to work on your alibis**_** Arden thought. "Yeah my mom told me about your trouble and I think that we should give my gift to her together."**

** Ruby looked surprised and said, "Arden I can't do that, it wouldn't be honest."**

** "It is okay, trust me, what I got her from 'us' is something very special." Ruby and Arden walked on the dance floor to see Yang just letting loose. "Wow, Yang is on fire"!**

** "Let's hope not literally"! The pair taps Yang on the shoulder and takes her off the dance floor for a minute.**

** "Hey, what's up?"! Yang asks all cheery like.**

** "Ruby and I got you something for graduating and getting into Beacon"! Arden yelled over the music. Yang takes it, unwraps the present and stares at it. It was a picture of Ruby and Yang with Alison Ambrose in the sparring room in Signal. There were some words in gold at the bottom that red "NEVER FORGET WHERE YOU CAME FROM." Yang looked chocked up and gave the two a crushing hug.**

** "THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU"!**

** "Yang you're crushing me"! Ruby yells.**

** "Oh God this is ten times worse than one of Lyla's hugs"! Arden added.**

_**Triskellion Subterranean Prison, 8:30 pm**_

** Aaron Davis walked out of the elevator and was escorted by two armed guards down the hall. He passed cells with energized bars that held criminals, superhuman beings, mutants, and cross species. This included Electro, Lizard, Mystique, Wolfsbane, Rhino, Scorpion, Red Skull, Tiberius and Tyler Stone. Davis was taken into a cell where Domino was right across from him. "What's up honey?" he says cool like.**

** "Bite me human," she responds.**

** "Don't tempt me."**

** Then there was a static sound as the intercom sparked to life. **_**"Ahem, this one goes out to my homey VenomSpider33."**_** Music begins to play as Domino looked horrified after hearing the voice. (Music: a particular theme from UMVC3).**

** "Oh God please not this idiot?"! Domino said aloud. **

** Prowler saw a red flash appear from nowhere and a guy in red with two swords strapped to his back and covered in guns and ammo stood cross armed and backed against the wall next to Domino's cell. "And how's my favorite polka dot doing?" he asked.**

** "Wade, what the hell are you doing here?" Domino asked.**

** "I was just finishing up Sunday night mass, you know forgiveness and s***, and I was going to blow up your cell for a booty call when… I… remembered…" Deadpool trailed off as he looked back at the sentence. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, time out there writer man, did you just censor me? I can't say s***? What about f***, can I say f***? Oh s*** I can't say f***?! What the f*** was your fan boy ass thinking putting the G****** Merc with the Mouth in a FanFic story if I can't say s*** and f***?! I mean it is bad enough that FOX is dropping the ball on my movie starring the handsome and talented Ryan Reynolds, but what kind of true fan are you if I can't cuss?! You know what, just for that, I'm going to spoil some characters I know you have planned for future chapters. Are you reading loyal followers because Scam Man is planning…?" Suddenly the elevator opens and I run out and tackle Deadpool.**

** "Wade shut-up"! I scream.**

** "Well look at the conceited piece of trash who decided to write himself into his story? You got some nerve asshole"!**

** "Alright Deadpool I'm sorry, it's just I didn't think I would do a good job writing you in this particular story. Plus, you are a little too eccentric when it comes to anything."**

** Deadpool was about to say something when he changed his mind. "Well maybe I'm a little too awesome for this story anyway. But you got to admit there has to be a way for all these characters to blow off some steam whenever they aren't killing or humping each other. Speaking of which…" Deadpool teleports into Prowlers cell and holds out his arm. "I heard you tapped some tail in the first chapter, you are an inspiration to men everywhere." Aaron reluctantly gave Deadpool his high five and teleported back to my side.**

** "I see your point Deadpool, so how about whenever I'm not writing RWBY Spider 2 and X-Factor, I dedicate a sideshow for everyone to let loose, staring you as the host."**

** "Now that's what I'm talking about, but it has to be rated M, I can swear whatever I want, there has to be lots of violence, and the occasional, ahem, booty call," he looks over to Domino when he said that.**

** "Okay, but you can't kill any characters integral to the plot and the sex scenes happen behind closed doors, and for good sakes, if you actually get some they have to be of age. Do we have a deal?"**

** "Deal," Wade said reluctantly. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to abandon my cameo and start writing material for **_**my**_** new story. You do the thing where you tell the readers about how this is the end of the story arc and give them the title of the next one and its first chapter." Deadpool walks away and chants a song. "Ouga chaka, ouga, ouga, ouga chaka, ouga, ouga, ouga chaka, ouga, ouga, ouga chaka…,"**

** Damnit Wade! So anyway everyone that's the end of the first story arc **_**The Girl under the Red Hood.**_** The next story arc entitled **_**Spider-Man and the Agents of S.P.E.A.R in: Paper Trail **_**will begin once my first story arc with the X-Men crossover is done.** **So sorry for the wait and a certain red clad spoiler!**

**Next Time: Death by Paper Cuts!**


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER 5: DEATH BY PAPER CUTS!**

_**Vale City, 20 years in the future**_

** Spider-Man swung across the dystopian, ruined city with his young partner below driving a jeep with the Stiles family inside. They made it unseen at the once famed casino Manelli's Place and were greeted by several human and Faunus guards. Arden and his young ward left the Stiles' family in the hands with other surviving refugees and walked up to the upper floors. They passed a hallway filled with memorabilia, including weapons, outfits, pictures, and personal effects of fallen heroes during this dark time. Arden looked at each one, including objects such as Iron Man's helmet, Mjolnir, Captain Vale's shield, Winter Soldier's arm, Ember Cecilia, Crocea Mors, Magnhild, Milo and Akouo, Storm flower, and Myrtenaster. Just outside Arden's room he stopped and stared at the tattered red hood and broken Crescent Rose of his former apprentice (even if it was just briefly).**

** "Boss?" the young green eyed soldier asked.**

** "Gabriel, go see your mother," Arden said as the door opened, "I'm sure she will be relieved to see that you're alright." Gabriel nods and heads back downstairs.**

** "She wasn't the only one," Blake Belladonna said as she pulled Arden's mask off, wrapped her arms around him and pressed her lips onto his. Arden let the passionate embrace go on for ten seconds before breaking it up.**

** "Sorry, but I haven't been much for romance lately." Arden looks at the red ring on Blake's arm. After her arm was severed by Ultron seventeen years ago, Arden had no choice but to get her to the A.I.M building and inject her with pure, concentrated Extremis. The result was the growth of a new arm but her amber colored eyes became a crimson red. Also she now has the ability to breathe fire which is pretty cool. But that act of kindness is what started a long, romantic relationship amidst a ruined world. Over the years as each hero and hunter fell, Arden stepped up and became the leader of this rag tag resistance group. While Blake is the last of the Hunters, the remaining mutants have formed a small army of X-Men, the smartest men are working on Remnant's last hope as the Future Foundation, and then there's Gabriel, rounding out the last of the superhumans.**

** "Oh I know, but still, you should be celebrating. I heard you and Gabe saved a family from a couple Ultron Sentinels."**

** "This isn't the old days Blake, no matter how little morale it brings. Sure I saved three civilians, but millions are still dead; including **_**them**_**." Arden pointed to the glasses filled with objects that bring back a hell lot of memories. "Many of those men and women were ten times the hero I will ever be. I am doing the best I can, but those scared civilians turned soldiers down there look to me for guidance, even though they are just as scared of me as Ultron."**

** "Arden c'mon…,"**

** "No! I'm not a hero anymore! I'm not the one who should take down Ultron and usher in a new golden age. That responsibility lies with Gabriel."**

** Blake was about to respond when a soldier came running up to them. "Sir"!**

** "What is it?"**

** "Blink just teleported in with a bunch of wounded X-Men. Bishop asked to see you."**

_**Flashback: VCPD Headquarters, Thursday June 23**__**rd**__**, 5:45 pm**_

** Commissioner Quaid called a meeting in the briefing room for all personal to attend. Every cop in the station as well as representatives from precincts across the city sat or stood around the police commissioner. "Alright listen up; you all saw the press conference from this morning and now there's a chance we might be dealing with a new breed of crime that we may not be equipped to handle."**

** "Yeah, like dealing with people who can set buildings on fire or make tornadoes"! One office yelled.**

** "Or people who can control minds," another said.**

** "Actually I wouldn't mind having someone like that help me with my ex-wife"! A third officer said as laughter followed.**

** "Alright knock it off this is serious," Quaid said as the laughing died down. "Now, I spoke with the mayor after the press conference and voiced my concerns on dealing with mutant and other odd types of criminals, like the ones from the attack. The mayor agreed and not only are we getting more cops, but a task force comprised entirely of S.P.E.A.R agents. They will be housed here at headquarters and will start…"**

**"Affective immediately Commissioner Quaid," Agent Coulson said as he casually strolled in. "My men are already setting up equipment in another room."**

** "I'm sure most of you are already familiar with Agent Coulson, and those of you who are not will be soon. He and his team will be called on whenever a crime is committed that includes abnormal circumstances. In those instances, Coulson has jurisdiction. Are there any objections?" Quaid looked around at the faces of men and women who risk their lives every day to uphold the law. None of them objected. "Good dismissed." As the officers left and Coulson made sure his team was all set, Quaid stopped Terri Lee and pulled her aside. "Detective, how are you enjoying your promotion?"**

** "About as much as you are sir, thanks for asking."**

** "And the reason for that is it's time we met your new partner." Lee looked saddened as her thoughts went to her recovering partner.**

** "Sir with all due respect Mulligan will be up and catching bad guys in a couple months and until then…"**

** "You need someone to watch your back. I know you miss Pat, but I am not sending you out there alone until he comes back. Even though you were promoted, I am still your superior and this is an order."**

** Lee nods and says, "Okay sir, sorry."**

** Quaid looks out the door and motions for someone to come in. "Detective, I would like you to meet your new partner." Lee looked at the doorway to see a man with wavy strawberry blond hair and green eyes wearing a white collared shirt and black pants. He held out his hand and she shook it.**

** "Sean Cassidy, glad to make your acquaintance Detective," he said with an accent.**

_**Present Day: Golden Meadows, Monday June 27**__**th**__**, 9:03 am**_

** Sean Cassidy and Terri Lee were in the kitchen of the Redeye family, consoling the victims of their tragedy. The two detectives were called to 093 Golden Meadows earlier this morning to respond to a murder that happened there. When the two detectives saw the body, they didn't know what to think. So they called in Coulson and his team and have been waiting ever since.**

** Agent Coulson and his team consisting of Ward, Fitz, and Simmons carried in their equipment and met the detectives and grieving family in the kitchen. "What do we have?" Coulson asked.**

** Cassidy steps up and begins the rundown, "Victims name was Amelia Redeye, eighteen years of age, her alarm clock went off at 8:30 but she never left her room. The ma' goes in to check on her daughter and…" he stops and Mrs. Redeye begins balling her eyes out again. Her husband hugs her and she buries herself in his arms. "Well, just see for yourselves." Sean motions his hand upstairs and Fitz and Simmons move to make their analysis.**

** The two S.P.E.A.R scientists enter the girl's room and find the cadaver lying still on her bed. They were wide eyed not at the dead body or the cuts around her arms, but the fact that she was completely two dimensional.**

** "Well either someone murdered a cardboard cutout or the murderer has powers," Fitz said and received a slap from Simmons. "Sorry, let's begin."**

** After running some tests, the two young agents requested that the body be moved to the lab back at headquarters for further testing. As the body was carted off, the mother started crying again. Detective Cassidy reassured the parents that they will find the one responsible and depart back to the station with Lee.**

** Outside, Coulson calls over Fitz and Simmons for the synopsis of their findings. "What have you found so far?"**

** "Based on the tests so far, the victim was murdered around midnight and was cut several times around the arms and neck. Her entire body was constricted by what looks like wide bindings, which explains why her parents didn't hear any screaming. She was smothered not to attract any unwanted attention," Fitz reported.**

** "So COD was extensive bleeding from several lacerations?" Ward asked.**

** "Actually no," Simmons interjected, "The victim was drained of her fluids, which explains why she was two dimensional, and died of asphyxiation from a lack of breathe. When her body became flat as paper, so too did her organs and couldn't get enough air into her lungs. This was a horrible way to die."**

** "Agreed, which means this must have been personal," Coulson added. "To kill someone up close like that, the victim must have done **_**something**_** to the perp, which means they knew each other."**

** "Lee and Cassidy spoke with the parents and said Amelia was well liked and had a lot of friends," Ward said. "If she did have any enemies, then it might be a short list."**

** "Good, you and I will talk with Amelia's friends. Fitz, Simmons, head back to the lab and see if you can find any DNA the murderer left behind. He or she must have left something behind if Amelia was bound."**

** "Yeah, we're on it," Fitz said as he and Simmons got in their car and drove off. Coulson and Ward got in Lola and drove to the address of one of Amelia's friends nearby. Coulson reached and touched a dial to activate his car's handless phone.**

** "Calling for back-up sir?" Ward asked.**

** "Ms. Redeye's murderer had powers, so I think it best we call in some reinforcements," he responded.**

** "Well considering our murderer comes out at night, drains victims of their fluids, and leaves people as flat as paper, have you considered a vampire hunter?"**

** "Very funny, but I was thinking of someone we've worked with before."**

** "So who from the Avenger pool are you calling?"**

** "Who said it was an Avenger?"**

**Next Time: Provisional Membership**


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 6: PROVISIONAL MEMBERSHIP**

_**A McQueen's Restaurant in Downtown Vale, 9:52 am**_

** Spider-Man and Ruby Rose, under the guise of the Red Hood, landed just outside a McQueen's fast food joint where several customers were running out scared and some were even holding their noses for some reason.**

** "What kind of bad guy attacks a fast food place?" Ruby asked.**

** "It's not important **_**where**_** a crime occurs, but the fact that a crime is **_**occurring**_**," Arden said while trying to sound like one of his teachers.**

** "Sounds like someone watched a lot of bad Kung Fu movies oh wise sensei." Ruby gave Arden a mocking bow and they walk into the restaurant. They immediately plug their noses at a putrid stench in the air.**

** Sitting in one of the booths with his webbed feet up was a guy with green skin with darker green spots on his arms and legs. He wore a red bandana on his head with his hair in dreadlocks, a sleeveless navy blue sweatshirt, pants, and a black armband on his right shoulder. This guy was completely ignorant at the fact that two heroes just walked as he was chowing down on someone else's meal. "Um Hm, I want to just kiss the guy who came up with this McQueen Early Bird Special, especially the waffle burger," he said in between chews. He looked disappointed as he finished his meal, but regained hope as he spied another twelve feet across the room at another booth. He casually tilted his head, opened his mouth, and launched his tongue at the burger and reeled it in. He grabbed it with his left hand and dug in.**

** Ruby put her hands to her mouth and her face looked greener than the guy's skin. "Ugh, I think I'm going to hurl."**

** The green man looked in front of him and said, "Yo you mind, I'm trying to…," he trailed off as he realized that Spider-Man was right in front of him. He dropped the food and jumped up on the table in a crouching position. "Holy crap you're Spider-Man"!**

** "Yeah thinks for noticing Kermit, but do you mind telling me what you think you're doing here and why it smells like you haven't bathed in months?"**

** "First off the names Toad and I just came in here minding my own business looking for something to eat."**

** "No offense but looking the way you do I take it people didn't exactly feel, comfortable, with your presence," Ruby said.**

** "You got that right Little Red Riding Hood, some folks thought the Toadster was a Faunus, not that there's anything wrong with that. But they were too busy holding their noses to do anything about it. One guy said something negative about my appearance and I spit in his face."**

** "That's it?"**

** "Yeah, if you add the fact my spit is kind of acidy. Everyone left and I started chowing down like I haven't eaten in days, and that's when you two showed up."**

** "So let me get this straight," Arden began, "You came in here looking for food and ended up causing trouble. Why didn't you just pay for some food and leave?"**

** "Did I forget to mention I got no cash on me?" Toad laughed weakly.**

** "I think the police would like to have a few words with you."**

** Toad jumps up and sticks to the ceiling, looking down at the young heroes. "What, did you think you were the only guy in this city who could stick to walls?"**

** "Actually I did. Now I'm thinking of trademarking the style to stop posers like you."**

** "Yeah while you do that, I'm out of here, I don't do cops." Toad jumps down and starts to hop away when Ruby took out Crescent Rose and swung it in front of the mutant. Toad back flipped just in time and landed on the counter. "What kind of hero carries an oversized weed whacker to catch criminals?"**

** "The kind who's taking you down," Ruby responds. Toad fires his tongue and Ruby rolls out of the way. "Ugh, didn't your parents teach you that it's rude to use your tongue on the first date?"!**

** "Sorry, it's the only move I got." Toad fires a few more times and Ruby takes cover beneath a booth.**

** "Alright this has gone on for too long," Arden said as he caught the long prehensile tongue. He sent a Venom Sting through his hand and traveled along the tongue until it reached its owner. Toad fell to the ground, twitching a little from the sudden shock.**

** "I could have taken him," Ruby said disappointed.**

** "Could of, would of, didn't. In intense situations like this, you need to formulate a plan **_**before**_** acting on instincts."**

** "So you were **_**already**_** planning to use that Venom Sting thing to take this guy down?"**

** "The Venom Sting option is always on the table. It's the **_**how**_** I deliver it I need to figure out." As Ruby and Arden leave and the cops enter to take the mutant away, Arden's phone rings. He checks the caller ID but sees that it's blocked. He answers it anyway knowing full well it's no doubt S.P.E.A.R. "Hello?"**

_**"Spider-Man, glad to hear you didn't sleep in this morning,"**_** Coulson said.**

** "Well if criminals don't sleep in till twelve in the afternoon then neither should I."**

_**"Good work attitude, listen I'll cut to the chase. The new task force that S.P.E.A.R put me in charge of is working on a murder case with a perpetrator with superhuman abilities. Since the Avengers are reserved for world shattering events, why not call up a Friendly Neighborhood spider that catches bad guys for free."**_

__**"Well I'm flattered…wait, the Avengers get paid?"!**

_**"A government salary really, but it's more about protecting the world than the money. Anyway, we want you to come to the roof of the VCPD headquarters around 11:00 to give you a synopsis of the situation. So how about Wall Crawler, will you take the case?"**_

__**"I'll be there."**

_**"Good, oh and another thing, ditch the sidekick; things might get too ugly for someone as young as Ruby Rose to see."**_

** "How do you…you know what never mind, I already know the answer to that. Consider it done, I'll see you later." Arden hangs up and turns to Ruby. "Look sorry to cut this short but I'm needed elsewhere, so today's lesson is officially canceled."**

** "Aw man, but I barely got to kick anyone's butt today," Ruby whined.**

** "There's more to being a hero than beating up criminals. I'll teach you that later but for right now just enjoy your day off." Spider-Man swings away, leaving a disappointed Ruby Rose to sulk and walk off.**

_**The Roof of the VCPD Headquarters, 11:03 am**_

** Spider-Man swings to the roof of the police building and meets up with Agents Coulson and Ward. The older agent had his hands in his pockets while Ward had his arms folded. "So Coulson, this has something to do with the murder Dex texted me about," Arden said as Coulson didn't even flinch at Arden's foreknowledge on the subject.**

** "Yes, Mr. Ambrose, a young girl was murdered under 'mysterious circumstances'," Coulson said.**

** "And I think you believe it might be a mutant."**

** "We're not ruling anything out, but if a mutant was responsible, then this is the last thing the mutant community needs so close after their exposure. Mutants are receiving about the same kind of 'warm welcome' the Faunus did when they first showed up."**

** "So what exactly do you want me to do? My Spider Sense can't sniff out criminals only protect me from them."**

** "That's okay; we've got something else in mind. The girl that was murdered, Amelia Redeye, attended Vale Preparatory before graduating over a week ago. We've spoken to friends and fellow graduates and it turns out she and a couple of friends liked to pick on a certain Faunus girl we know; Roxanne Vulpes."**

** "The Goblin's girlfriend, hey, don't tell me she's involved in this?! She's been through enough as it is"!**

** "Like we said we're not ruling anything out," Ward answered. "But we highly doubt a pregnant eighteen year old Faunus girl broke into a house without setting off any alarms, without signs of forced entry, and without making any noise what so ever. But I did see how Tyler Stone reacted after the whole Electro debacle. He looked like he was going to murder Weiss Schnee for her comments."**

** "But isn't Stone still locked up at **_**your**_** base?"**

** "Yes he is, but Phil Ulrich was there as well. We learned that the Ulrich family has been serving the Stone's for generations. Ulrich and Tyler were described in their psyche files as 'close friends boarding a brotherly relationship', so it stands to reason Mr. Ulrich could have murdered Ms. Redeye on Tyler's behalf to uphold Roxanne's honor."**

** "But that doesn't make any sense, why would Ulrich risk exposing himself to murder a bully he had no grudge with himself on behalf of a girl he didn't have close ties to. True he would do anything for his boss's girlfriend, but with Tyler incarcerated, he is the leader of what's left of the Underground. He wouldn't risk getting caught for a single murder."**

** "Very astute Mr. Ambrose," Coulson complimented, "I see you've picked up quite a lot from Dexter Dunbar's reporting and analytical skills. And not to mention that silence isn't exactly the Goblin's forte. Therefore if the Goblin Underground was responsible for this murder, then they must have reached out to a third party. We want you to go over to the Vulpes residence and see if Roxanne has come into contact with anyone from her boyfriend's organization."**

** "You really believe the Goblin's were behind this?"**

** "We're just chasing down every lead available; anything you find out could help us find the murderer."**

** Arden thinks about it and says, "Alright, I'll just have to be careful on how to slip the issue in. Dex told me she's still a little broken up about everything."**

** "Do what you need to do Spider-Man, good luck."**

** As Arden turned to leave, he looks back and asks, "Oh, about Ruby Rose…"**

** "We'll discuss that another time, just stay focused on the task at hand." Arden nods and swings off.**

** "What **_**are**_** we going to do about Ruby Rose?" Ward asked. "This is the second generation of that family getting involved in a bigger world than they can handle."**

** "She's going to be a Huntress," Coulson responds, "She's **_**training**_** to handle this bigger world of ours."**

** "First Summer and Wolverine now Ruby and Spider-Man; what is it about the women in that family being infatuated with so called 'heroes'?"**

** "Maybe **_**you**_** need to focus on the task at hand instead of focusing on the past." Coulson walks to the roof access and heads back downstairs with Ward following moments later.**

** Elsewhere in an apartment building somewhere in the Downtown area, a dark room was covered in papers ranging from newspapers to pages from dozens of books. One page looked to be from a yearbook with Amelia Redeye's picture crossed off in red marker. A flat hand, two dimensional in appearance, reached out and touched a picture of Tyler Stone. The picture was from the front page of an edition of the Daily Bugle and the heading states "LOCAL HEIR REVEALED TO BE MASKED MONSTER".**

** "We're one in the same you and I, misunderstood, freaks. But we will be together, once all obstacles are removed."**

**Next Time: Interview With a Faunus**


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER 7: INTERVIEW WITH A FAUNUS**

_**Hell's Kitchen, the Vulpes residence, 11:22 am**_

** Arden walks up to the home of Roxanne Vulpes and knocks on the door. However, his knocks were drowned out by the sound of shouting coming from inside. "YOU'VE GOT SOME NERVE COMING BACK HERE"! The voice was loud and sounded like an older man. Arden figures its Roxanne's father.**

** "Niles, please calm down," a woman said, no doubt the mother.**

** "She's my sister; I need to be there for her"! Another male voice, this one was younger.**

** "You're the reason she ended up in that hospital"! Niles Vulpes yelled. "You and those disgraceful White Fang bastards"!**

** "First of all dad, **_**you**_** were once upon a time **_**one**_** of those 'bastards'! And second, I wasn't the one who let Roxanne get defiled by some freak human"!**

** "GET THE HELL OUT OF MY HOUSE BEFORE I CALL THE COPS"!**

** Arden backs up as Elliot Vulpes bursts through the door, stops and sticks his nose up in disgust at Arden, and walks off. Roxanne's mom, Zerda Vulpes, saw Arden standing in the doorway and walks over to greet the visitor. She was a middle aged Fox Faunus with unusually large ears on top of her head.**

** "Um, can I help you?" she asks weakly and reluctantly.**

** "Mrs. Vulpes, my name is Arden Ambrose, I don't know if Dexter Dunbar mentioned me, but I'm his new assistant." Arden rubs his neck nervously as Mrs. Vulpes looked a little suspicious, both at him and out the door at nosey neighbors. "Look to make a long story short, Dex was worried about Roxanne, but because of his hectic schedule what with this mutant hysteria and the launch of the **_**Fantastic Voyager**_** next week, he sent me in his place. But it looks like you're dealing with family drama so I think I'll come back another time."**

** "Well thank you for understanding…"**

** "It's okay mom, I'll talk to him," Arden and Zerda turn to see Roxanne, her eyes puffy and red, her ears dropped down, and wrapped in her blanket to cover her nightwear.**

** "Are you sure sweetheart? Maybe it would be best for you to get some rest."**

** "I've had enough rest, maybe it's time I let someone in." Mrs. Vulpes welcomed Arden in and led him and her daughter into the living room. The two teens sat next to each other on the sofa.**

** "I'll be in the kitchen with your father if you need anything sweety."**

** Arden and Roxanne sat there for a moment, letting the awkward silence set in over their first official face to face meeting. Arden decided to break the ice. "I want to say 'how are you feeling' but I imagine you've heard that about a million times already."**

** "Like you wouldn't believe," she responds. "How exactly do you tell someone that you're fine after what I've been through? My boyfriend turned out to be a criminal and murderer! He kept secrets from me, the one person I thought he could trust! And now I'm carrying his child." She started to sob, and Arden put a hand on her back to console her.**

** "Do you…still love him?" She sniffed and looked at him. "I mean, despite everything that's happened, did you outright despise him after you learned the truth?"**

** Roxanne sniffs again and answers, "You would think that I hate his guts, curse his name, but the truth is, I still have feelings for him." She gets up and lets the blanket drop. Arden averts his eyes when he saw that she was wearing only shorts with her tail sticking out and a black tank top. She walks over to the fire place and looks at a family photo of her, her parents, and her brother Elliot. "With all the tension in my family right now, not a moment goes by when I wish Tyler was here to talk to me, comfort me. But I don't know where he is."**

** "I think I can relate," the fox girl sits back down and listens to what her guest has to say. "After the Battle for Vale City, my girlfriend and her family moved. She said her dad didn't think the city was a safe place anymore and they moved to a village in the country."**

** "Oh my, I'm so sorry."**

** "You don't have to apologize, this wasn't your fault. What I meant is before we were an item, she was my closest friend. I would confide in her some of my problems and secrets when I needed to talk to someone other than my folks." **_**Of course, not the big secret**_** Arden thought to himself. "It's important to talk to someone about our feelings, not to keep them bottled up inside."**

** "Arden, I think you're the first guy I met who knows what women want to hear."**

** Arden just chuckled and said, "Well I do take after my mom more than my dad. So, besides Tyler and your parents, is there anyone else you can talk to?"**

** Roxanne looked sad and closed her eyes. "No, other than Elliot and Tyler, there was never anyone else I could confide in."**

** "Did anyone ever try to talk to you after the incident?"**

** "You mean all those asshole reporters and angry mobs outside my door after during the first days of the clean-up? My dad and Dex did everything they could to get those bastards to leave me alone. And whatever friends I did have abandoned me." She thinks for a second and remembers something. "Actually there was one guy who wanted to speak to me, but my father forbade it."**

** "Do you know who?"**

** "I overheard a name, Max Eisenhardt, but it's no one I ever heard of." Niles Vulpes comes into the room with his wife behind him and points to Arden.**

** "Young man I think it's time for you to leave," he says.**

** "Daddy, I'm alright."**

** "No, I don't want to overstay my welcome, and the last thing I want to do is upset anyone of you," Arden said, understanding Niles's protective nature. Arden holds out his hand and Niles reluctantly shakes it. "It was nice meeting you all." Arden sees himself out and closes the door. He was just down the steps when the door opens and Roxanne was standing there.**

** "I just wanted to say thanks for the talk, I really needed it." Roxanne smiles and closes the door. Arden smiles himself and walks to an alley to change in private and report back to Coulson.**

** As he finished changing and swung off, he was unaware of the metal garbage pails and dumpster vibrating in the alley. A man wearing a brown trench coat and a grey flat cap atop his head of white hair stepped into the alley seconds later. "An interesting secret you have Mr. Ambrose, we have more in common than you'll know."**

**Next Time: The Mutant Murderer **


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER 8: THE MUTANT MURDERER**

_**The Home of Arden Ambrose, Tuesday June 28**__**th**__**, 9:00 am**_

** Arden sat at the kitchen table with Isis chowing down on some eggs and bacon while chugging his third glass of OJ. After reporting in to Coulson yesterday and finding nothing to link the Goblin Underground to the murders, the S.P.E.A.R agent told Arden that they will contact him when they get something more concrete. So he spent the rest of the day and evening finding criminals in need for a beating before coming back home. His dad already left for the hospital and his mom was sleeping in from an extraneous training session at the Institute. Arden picked up the remote and turned on the small T.V on the counter. The VNN anchorwoman Lisa Lavender was on the screen with BREAKING NEWS at the bottom.**

_**"This just in, late last night there was another murder in the Golden Meadows neighborhood. 18 year old Regina Delmar was found flat as paper by her younger sister earlier this morning. This is the second murder within the same neighborhood within two days. There is panic and even outrage as many citizens believe this is the work of a mutant and with a second victim, this is the making of a serial killer. Because of the way the killer leaves his or her victims two dimensional; many have begun to call these tragedies the Paper Doll murders. If you have any information in these matters please call the VCPD information hotline."**_

** Arden shut the T.V off and slammed the remote on the table. "Damnit"! He yelled.**

** "What's the matter?" Isis asked.**

** "Sorry, it's just I'm helping the authorities trying to catch this guy and to see someone else killed like that pisses me off. It feels like I failed."**

** "You can't blame yourself for that Arden. Despite your gifts, you can't save everyone, no matter how hard you try. But as long as you try, that's all anyone will ask of you."**

** "Thanks Isis, your sage advice always seems to make me feel better." Arden gets up, pats Isis on the head and puts his dishes in the sink. He then runs upstairs to change and head out to work.**

** "Now I just wish you wouldn't leave your dishes for **_**me**_** to clean up"!**

_**VCPD Headquarters, 12:45 pm**_

** Detectives Lee and Cassidy have just gotten back to their desks after a long morning of panic control. After news broke that a mutant might be responsible for the murders, people have been going crazy and attacking anyone they felt looked or may have been suspected of being a mutant. To Lee, Cassidy seemed both adamant and concerned to control the situation before it got out of hand. The two detectives even saw some actual mutants, most of them had very distinct physical mutations, and they ran into alleyways to escape the persecution. Officers who tried to find these mutants only found opened manhole covers leading into the sewers.**

** "This is getting bad ain't it partner?" Cassidy asked.**

** "Just like the Faunus, people just can't handle change," Lee answered, "It's the human condition."**

** "The human condition me arse, the human race is terrified of what it cannot understand. And what they can't understand, they try to kill."**

** "Well it's up to us as police officers to stop that from happening. But it starts with catching this murderer before things get worse." The phone on Lee's desk beeps and presses the button to take the call.**

_**"Detective this is the front desk, we got a kid here looking for Agent Coulson. However, he and the other S.P.E.A.R guys are out right now so I hope you don't mind if I defer him to you."**_

** "Roger front desk, send him my way."**

_**"I got to warn you detective, he ain't exactly a 'normal' citizen."**_** Before Terri could ask what that meant, the caller hung up. Two minutes later, a bald young man wearing tattered clothing with white skin slowly walked up to Lee's desk. All the other officers in the bull pen were staring and some looked like they had their hands on their holsters. Lee and Cassidy motion for everyone to calm down and they address their guest.**

** "What can we do for you laddie?" Cassidy asks.**

** The young man looks at the detectives with his black eyes and opens his mouth to begin his slowed dialogue. "Detectives, Caliban came here today to stop all of the hysteria. By doing so, the frightened humans will stop hurting Caliban's people."**

** "Caliban, is that your name?" Lee asked.**

** "More importantly, are you saying you are a mutant?" Cassidy followed up.**

** Caliban nods to both and continues. "Caliban wanted to speak to S.P.E.A.R, but the police are just as good. It is with a heavy heart that Caliban says that the murderer is indeed a mutant."**

** "How can you possibly know that lad?"**

** "Caliban has the power to find mutants. The one you seek is named Piper Dali, she is currently at 1610 Diko's Palace, apartment 303."**

** "How do we know you are telling the truth?" Lee asked.**

** "You don't, Caliban believed that the authorities would have a better chance of catching Ms. Dali than Caliban." He turns and begins walking out of the building.**

** "Wait, where are you going?"**

** "This is the last you will see of Caliban on the surface for a while. Caliban must go before the humans decide to hurt Caliban." With that, the mutant Caliban walks out of the room and makes for the exit. Lee tries to go after him, but Cassidy insisted he go himself. He goes outside and rounds the corner to the back alley where there was the nearest manhole cover. Caliban was just kneeling down to open it when he turned at the detective. "Did you come to arrest Caliban detective?"**

** "No, I'm just wondering why you thought you could trust us if you were looking for S.P.E.A.R?" Sean asked.**

** "Because of what you are, Caliban knew you wouldn't let anyone hurt Caliban, that's why when Caliban sensed your presence, Caliban knew he was in the presence of a brother."**

** "Just please keep that to your bloody self for now yeah."**

** "You cannot hide what you are forever detective." Caliban lifts up the cover and descends into the dark underworld.**

_**Downtown Vale, 1610 Diko's Palace Apartments, 1:16 pm**_

** Agents Coulson and Ward pulled up to the apartment complex and got buzzed through to enter. On the drive there, Coulson called the Triskellion for a background check on the suspect and got back the following information. Other than the normal stuff that she's eighteen and graduated Vale Prep, they also got a hold of confidential notes from the guidance counselor. Apparently Ms. Dali is something of a social outcast, she has no friends and interesting enough, there was a very violent altercation with Amelia Redeye and Regina Delmar days before graduation. The evidence starting to pile up, the S.P.E.A.R agents moved fast up the stairs and made it to room 303.**

** "Hello, is anybody home?" Coulson asked knocking on the door. Silence was the only answer he got. Not wanting to take any chances, he places a small device on the door handle and moves back with Ward. He folds his arms close to his chest and cringes when the explosive device blows the door open. Both agents pull out their guns and sweep the small apartment. "Clear in the living room, you?"**

** "Kitchen's clear, a note on the fridge," Ward said. "Parents are out for the day."**

** Coulson moves from room to room, opening the doors and peering inside, when he made it to the second bedroom and couldn't turn the knob. "I got a locked door."**

** "Can't you blast it open?"**

** "Sorry, only carry one breach device at any given time. Better do this the old fashion way." The two agents move to the door and kick it open with all their force. Inside, what they believe to be a bedroom, the room was covered from floor to ceiling with paper. Coulson and Ward took observed all of the newspaper clippings, pages from books, and even little note the suspect herself wrote down.**

** "Boss, I got something." Coulson looks at the wall over the bed and Ward points to four pages ripped from a high school year book. The students were all of the graduating class. The first one had Regina Delmar's picture crossed off in red with BITCH written next to it. The second one was of Amelia Redeye, her picture was also crossed of but the word next to her picture was too profane for Coulson to repeat aloud. The third was different, it was Tyler Stone, but instead of being crossed off, it was circled with SOUL MATE written next to it. "'SOULMATE', this girl's got a thing for the Goblin?"**

** Coulson looks around the room and notices another key factor. "Come to think of it many of these news articles are on the Goblin."**

** "Well if she wants to be with him, I think we can arrange a cell at the Triskellion for her. And besides, I thought he was spoken for."**

** "I don't think she sees that as a problem for much longer." Coulson points to the fourth page in the line and Roxanne Vulpes' picture was circled with the word WHORE next to it. As Coulson fished for his cell phone in his pocket, Ward heard heavy breathing coming from behind them. A flat girl with black hair and yellow eyes wearing a blue shirt and pants emerges from the wall and extends her arm into a bladed shape. Ward pulls Coulson out of the way and out the room in time for Piper Dali to bring her arm down and slice her bed clean in half. Breathing heavier and deciding not to risk confronting the S.P.E.A.R agents, she runs over to her covered window, lifts up some papers, and literally slips through the crack and makes it out to the fire escape. Ward runs back in gun raised and opens the window. He poked his gun and head out carefully and looks everywhere for the murderer but found nothing.**

** "She's gone."**

** "Great, there is a dangerous killer mutant on the loose who has the hots for a giant fire throwing psycho. We need to get on top of the situation before anyone else is killed."**

** "Got a plan boss?"**

** "Yeah, first I'm going to call headquarters to remind me the benefits of my life insurance policy, and then I'm calling for some Friendly Neighborhood assistance."**

_**Hell's Kitchen, the home of Roxanne Vulpes, 1:57 pm**_

** Piper Dali slipped through the door to Roxanne's room and turned solid. After escaping the S.P.E.A.R agents, she took a couple of buses to Hell's Kitchen and snuck inside the residence of the Faunus family without anyone watching. She flattened her arms to the point the very edge can slice diamonds and approached the occupied bed. "With you gone, he'll love me," she said. She slices at the form in an X shape, but was surprised at the lack of blood. He removed the covers to reveal a couple of sliced up pillows.**

** "Seriously, you fell for that old trick?" Piper turns to see Spider-Man stuck to the ceiling, deactivating his cloaking. He jumps down and enters a defensive stance.**

** "Where is she?"!**

** "Safe, my buddies at S.P.E.A.R thought you would be dumb enough to come after her right away, so we made sure to spring this little trap. Look Piper, just give yourself up before you do something else you might regret."**

** "I regret nothing! They deserved what they got for pushing me around and abusing me. People like that never change; they would have just hurt others like me."**

** "What about Roxanne Vulpes, does she deserve death? From what I heard, you shouldn't have anything against her, unless you hate Faunus most humans, then you're not being original."**

** "I hate her because she has Tyler. I always liked him, and when I found out he was the Goblin, I knew we were destined to be together."**

** "The only thing you and Stone have in common is that you're both out of your minds"!**

** Piper screams and folds her arms into spear like weapons and attempts to impale the Wall Crawler. Spider Sense going off, Arden dodges while backing out of the bedroom and jumps down the stairs to get more room. Piper goes flat body and travels down the stairs at a fast pace and stands up and attacks Arden with bladed arms. Jumping back, Arden attempts to web her, but she slices at the webbing, all while pressing her attack. Spider-Man webs the sofa and flings it at her. A direct hit as she and the sofa are flung the wall just beside the doorway entrance. Arden walks forward, hoping she's down for the count when Piper slid under the sofa and coils herself around the Web Slinger.**

** "Do you…want to know…how I…killed the others?" she asked between large intakes of air. "I…sucked…their bodily…fluids…from…their…body." Arden felt strange and slightly weaker and lighter as he felt a strange motion leaving his body. "And now…I'll leave…you…as flat…as…paper"!**

_**She's right; I'm feeling lighter by the minute**_** Arden thought. **_**My healing ability is stabilizing the effect but I can't concentrate on my Aura to use a Venom Sting! Well on the plus side I have been meaning to shed some extra pounds. Wait, it sounded like she was having some trouble breathing. Maybe went she compresses herself, her insides compress as well? If she can't get enough air into her lungs, then she can't stay in this form forever.**_

** Seizing an opportunity, Arden struggles to point his wrist up. He succeeds and tilts his head and shots a web ball in Piper's face. She reacts and lets him go, floating down at first but turning solid and hitting the ground. He rips off the inhibitor collar he webbed to his back before the fight and places it on the mutant. An electric shock goes through her body and she goes limp. "Thanks for the lipo, but I'll stick to diet and exercise." Arden pulls the webbing off Piper's face and calls the S.P.E.A.R guys in. "Coulson it is all clear." Two S.P.E.A.R agents come in and take the mutant away, putting her in the back of a prisoner transport van. Agent Coulson and the Vulpes family come in after it was all over.**

** "A job well done Spider-Man," Coulson commented.**

** Roxanne walks up to Spider-Man and hugs him. "Thank you, it's nice to know there's someone looking out for all of us," she said.**

** Blushing under his mask, Arden responds with only, "You're welcome ma'am." He gives a two fingered salute and runs out of the house, jumps off, and web slings away.**

** Meanwhile, the prisoner van transporting "Paper Doll", as the agents started calling her, was enroute to the nearest S.P.E.A.R owned airfield when something strange happened. The van begins to move erratically and the driver is freaking out.**

** "What the hell are you doing?" the agent in the passenger seat asks.**

** "It's not me; the van has a mind of its own"! The driver looks down and nearly pissed his pants when he saw the wheel cut right own its own and drive straight into a parking garage. The van then rams straight into one of the support beams. Both the driver and passenger hit the airbags hard, there status currently unresponsive. In the back, Piper was jostled around pretty violently but was secure and unharmed. The doors to the back bend and open up into a circular opening. Piper was pulled out by the inhibitor collar and stood in the presence of a levitating man in a cape and helmet. She couldn't get a good look at any distinct features because the sun behind him blared, his piercing eyes were all she saw.**

** "Hello Piper, it is finally nice to meet you," he said in a powerful voice.**

** "Thanks, but who are you?" she asks.**

** "I am someone who wants to officially welcome you to the mutant race, and a place amongst this world's true master."**

** "Look, thanks for the rescue and all, but no thanks. I just want to find a way to break out the man I love and be with him."**

** "Ah yes, Tyler Stone, the Goblin. Tell me child, did you ever stop to think that Mr. Stone may not share the same feelings towards you, especially after you tried to kill the mother of his child?"**

** Piper thinks about it and realizes that this guy was right. If she killed the pregnant Faunus, then the only reaction Tyler would likely have is murdering her, regardless of the consequences. Hell he might just do it anyway just for the attempt. "I see your point."**

** "Do not waste your time on that pretender, join me and I can offer you the chance to rebuild this world, safe from the evil humans."**

** "Alright, I'm in."**

** "Splendid, then take my hand child, help me forge a new Brotherhood." The mysterious man holds out his hand and the mutant girl takes it.**

**Authors Note: That ends this story arc. The next will start after the next Deadpool chapter. From now on, I will be revealing the names of the next arcs on The Deadpool Show.**

**Next Time: Hot & Cold**


	10. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER 9: HOT & COLD**

_**The Home of Arden Ambrose, Wednesday July 6**__**th**__**, 7:00 am**_

** Arden wakes up on the sofa and yawns loudly. He and Isis were watching a late night movie marathon and crashed on the sofa. She was snuggling next to him, smiling from a dream or the feeling of safety from being near a hero. Arden gets up slowly to prevent waking her up and goes in the kitchen for a glass of OJ. He turns on the T.V and watches one of Dex's early morning stories, keeping the volume low so he wouldn't wake his surrogate sister.**

_**"Good morning Vale, our top story continues to be the mystery surrounding the disappearance of the **_**Fantastic Voyagers**_** crew. Just two days ago the spaceship launched from Aldrin Air Force base in the hopes of researching a cosmic anomaly that planned to pass just outside our planet's atmosphere. Hours later, the **_**Voyager**_** makes a crash landing outside the city limits and the military rushes to the seen. The crew of the **_**Voyager**_** consisted of world renowned scientist Reed Richards, local biologist expert Susan Storm, the expert pilot Benjamin Grimm and his co-pilot Johnathan Storm, Susan Storm's brother and according to our sources a drop out at the Royal Vale Air Force Academy. The status of the crew is unknown and authorities have not divulged anything at this time…"**_** Arden hears a yawn behind him and he shuts the T.V off. Isis came walking in wearing a black tank top and pajama bottoms with cartoon cat faces on them. Her ears twitched as she poured herself a glass of milk.**

** "Sorry, did I wake you?" Arden asked the Faunus girl.**

** She yawns and responds, "No, I just couldn't sleep anymore."**

** "By the way, happy sweet sixteen"!**

** She just looks at him with a sheepish expression. "Yeah thanks, but I don't feel all sweet right now."**

** "Let me guess; your sisters?"**

** "Yep, I'm going to visit Cleo later today so she could thank me behind the prison glass. As for Felicia, I'm afraid she's going to burst through the door any second to snatch me to 'safety'."**

_**And her friend with the exploding playing cards**_** Arden added in his head. "Listen; if your sister has any respect for you, she'll leave you be. But if she does come here, and she's peaceful about it, then we can consider giving you time to talk to her." Isis's face lights up and hugs Arden.**

** "Thanks, you're the best brother I never had. But if you don't get me a killer gift for the party on Saturday, I'm going to hack your Tracebook account and post so many embarrassing pictures of you when you were a kid."**

** Arden just stared at the former hacker/thief wide eyed as she kissed him on the cheek and walked back into the living room. "And you're the kind of sister I'd expect to have if mom and dad wanted another kid," he said to himself.**

_**Vale City, 12:46 pm**_

** Arden crouched in his costume on top of a building and heard a gunshot behind and below him. He turns in time to see Ruby shooting upwards and lands on the roof.**

** "So, what's on the agenda for today?" she asks.**

** "Just another routine patrol for now," Spider-Man responds, "But the day is young and anything exciting could happen." A siren is heard down below and three guys in ski masks were robbing a jewelry store. "You see that, right under our feet and everything."**

** "Mind if I get this one?"**

** "Sure, there are only three of them, why not?"**

** Ruby smiles under the hood and jumps down with Crescent Rose in scythe mode. The thugs look at her surprised as they raise their guns. She fires a round and propels forward and kicks one guy in the jaw. She kicks a second guy in the back of the leg and he drops down. She follows up with a smack with her weapon and changer Crescent into its gun mode and pointed it at the last guy. He was the smartest bad guy in the world as he dropped his gun and raised his arms. At that point, Arden jumps down and webs the criminals up.**

** "Gold star grasshopper," he says.**

** "Thank you, but that seemed **_**too**_** easy for me," she responds. "Why don't we find a super powered baddie and kick his ass?"**

** "We never pick fights Hood, only if necessary and we certainly never pick a fight with a super powered criminal unless he or she is hurting people. Do you understand?"**

** "Yeah, no problem, let's go find some more Joe Shmoes who need an education in law abiding." She fires her weapon upwards and starts to free run on the rooftops. Spider-Man follows after her with his webs, passing a giant glass tower with a giant "B" on the entrance.**

_**The Baxter Building, 12:49 pm**_

** Johnny Storm was looking out the window at the top floor when he saw the web slinger swing past the Baxter Building. The young twenty something with blue eyes and blond hair was wearing a blue one piece uniform that his sister's boyfriend made to with stand his new "gifts". "Wow, I can't believe I just saw Spider-Man, **_**the**_** Spider-Man, zoom past this building," he said aloud. "I just wish I was **_**outside**_** to see it"!**

** "Give it a rest Johnny, you're still not leaving the premises," said the smartest man in the world looking at a blood sample through an electron microscope. Reed Richards was a man in his mid-thirties with brown hair with white streaks at his temples. He, like the rest of quarantined crewmates, was wearing the blue uniforms interwoven with unstable molecules, a synthetic material he created that can adapt to any environment. "There are still tests you need to run to determine the limits to your powers, or if there are any at all."**

** "Come on Reed, I got control see," he holds out his right hand and says, "FLAME ON"! Suddenly the youth's body ignites and he is covered from head to toe in fire. "FLAME OFF"! The fire dissipates and Johnny's back to normal. "How cool is that?"**

** "It's not cool if you're unable to do it after 16.8 hours." Johnny looked confused and Reed started off on one of his tirades. "You see Johnny; the cells in a normal human being break down the food you intake and convert them into an energy molecule called adenosine triphosphates, or ATPs, to be used for a variety of functions. This cell sample I'm observing I appropriated from you shows that the cosmic rays mutated your ATP production sites and rewrote them into a new energy molecule I call adenine ribo-heptaphosphene or simply AR-HP. This new energy molecule is the source of your pyrokinetic abilities and after doing the math after 16.8 hours of constant use of your powers without recharging, you will be forced revert back to normal."**

** Johnny just looked at him like a zombie, unable to understand a fifth of what he just said.**

** *Sigh* "Just don't overuse your powers and eat whenever you can," Johnny's sister Sue explained. She was a beautiful woman who shared her brother's hair and eye color. "I don't know what you're thinking Reed when you try to be all smart around him," she said turning to Reed. "My brother couldn't handle Intro to Biology, so your elaboration would have only fried his brain."**

** "Sorry hun, I guess it's hard talking 'normal' when I've been around fellow scientists for the past nine years."**

** There was a crash behind them and the roar of their friend Ben Grimm. "Oh for crying out loud not again"! The large man with rough, rock like skin held a piece of the door while clutching the door knob. "That's the third door in two days"!**

** "It's alright Ben, we'll fix it later."**

** "No Reed it's not all right! Look at me for cripes sake! Whatever that freaky cosmic doohickey did to me, it made so ugly my own sweet aunt Petunia wouldn't even recognize me"!**

** "Look Ben, after Reed finishes his tests and determine we're not a danger to anyone, we'll be free to go," Johnny said. Reed and Sue flinched at the boy's ignorance.**

** "That's easy for you to say Blondie, you Reed and Susie can pass for normal, me; I've become the monsters I was named for"!**

** "Ben you are not one of those creatures"! Reed yelled standing out of his chair. "You're my friend and one of the nicest guys I know. Not to mention the best damn pilot in all of Remnant." He stretched his arm and pats Ben's shoulder. Ben shrugged it away.**

** "Aw face it Reed, but my life is pretty much over. I might as well stay here for the rest of my life and not face the persecution of the Hunters." Ben turns and exits the room, crashing into the doorframe as he did. "Sorry."**

** Reed sits back down disheartened and slams his fist on the table. "I swear I will do everything in my power to help him." Sue looks back at Reed and then at Johnny, who has resumed looking out the window for another glimpse of Spider-Man. Overcome by sadness, her form fades into invisibility and she walks out of the room.**

_**Horizon Labs, 1:05 pm**_

** Terry Sorenson, a dark skinned teen with brown eyes wearing a red shirt and blue pants, had snuck into Horizon Labs, one of the foremost prestigious leaders in genetic engineering and bio technology, confronted his father in his lab. "You son of a bitch"! He yelled at his own father, "How could you do that to her?"!**

** David Sorenson, a middle aged man with black hair who shared his son's skin tone wearing a white lab coat and brown pants just tried to play off his kid. He didn't try to make eye contact because his eyes were bloodshot. "She shouldn't have come at me like that"! He said.**

** "Bulls**t, I saw it all! You blatantly hit her because the board is shutting down your lab! Your experiments are too dangerous and uses up too much Fire and Ice dust! You were always jealous of her because she was more successful than you and now she's in intensive care because you beat her so bad this time"!**

** "Why you little s**t"! David charges his son and the two begin to struggle. Terry pushes him off him and into his lab bench, hitting a strange cylindrical device as it crashes to the floor. Neither of them felt the blast as the entire room exploded.**

**Next Time: Equinox**


	11. Chapter 11

**CHAPTER 10: EQUINOX**

_**Horizon Labs, 1:43 pm**_

** The police surrounded the blown out side of Horizon Labs, cordoning it off to the public. Detective Terri Lee was currently on the phone with the CEO of Horizon Labs to determine who was exactly in the building at the time of the explosion. Detective Sean Cassidy was taking statements from civilians who were nearby.**

** "Okay partner," Lee begins as she hangs up the phone, "That was Max Modell, CEO of Horizon Labs, and he says that the lab that blew up belonged to David Sorenson. Apparently Mr. Sorenson received his two weeks' notice last night because he was continuing his research without the consent of the board. And if that wasn't bad enough he has a warrant for physically abusing his wife."**

** "So what partner, he came here to blow himself up and the place that fired him just to end it all?" Cassidy theorized. "If he thinks he'll get away with these sins, then he'll face his judgment from a higher power."**

** "We'll one of those sins will include the murder of his son because Terry Sorenson was logged in as a visitor moments before the explosion."**

** "Oh that poor kid, no one so young deserves such a gruesome fate."**

** Over in the ruble, there was movement and an explosion as some kind of creature emerged. A large man with fire and ice fluctuating across his body screamed in what sounded like pain. "Wha-What happened? What's going on?" He looks out onto the street and sees panicked people running and police officers pointing their guns at him.**

** "PUT YOUR HANDS ON YOUR HEAD"! An officer yelled from a megaphone.**

** "Okay, okay I'll…" he stops as he raised his hands and for the first time notices the changes that happened to me. Freaking out, he runs over to a tinted car window and looks at his reflection. Each footprint left either a small flaming crater or an iced over crater.**

** "THIS IS YOUR LAST WARNING, STAY WHERE YOU ARE OR WE WILL SHOOT"!**

** "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO ME?"! As he screamed, fire flicked on the top of his head.**

** "OPEN FIRE"! The police fired and the creature shielded his eyes.**

** "Stop, please, stop shooting. STOP SHOOTING ME"! He raises his hands out and fires two fire balls. Each one impacted a police car and they exploded. The detectives and fellow officers took cover. He was shocked at what he did and looked at his hands. "Did I just do that?"**

** Behind a police car, Terri was clutching her arm as she was caught in one of the explosions and a piece of shrapnel hit her. Cassidy was next to her, looked into her eyes, and knew what he had to do. Sean holsters his weapon and begins walking towards the monster. "Detective Cassidy what the hell are you doing?"! Lee yelled.**

** "Saving our bloody arses, now tell everyone to cover their ears"! He responds. He walks until he's a few feet away and takes a big inhale. When he yelled, he let out a supersonic scream. "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH"! Everyone, including the creature, covered their ears in pain. After about thirty seconds, Cassidy stops from a lack of breath and starts catching his breath. Pissed off, the creature fires a stream of ice and Cassidy thought that this was the end. He certainly didn't expect to be hoisted up by a web line and then thrown on a bed made of webbing.**

** "Yeah we're going to have a talk later about what you just did, but one super being at a time alright," Spider-Man said standing on a light post. Ruby ran beneath the post and aimed Crescent Rose in gun mode at the abomination.**

** "Why won't you people leave me alone"! It yelled and ran off into the city.**

** "Uh, Spider-Man, the walking lava lamp is breaking a break for it"! Ruby yelled.**

** "Well let's go after him and say hi," Spider-Man says as he swings off after it with Ruby on his heels.**

_**The Docks, 1:46 pm**_

** In one of the shipping warehouses, a few of the workers gathered around a small T.V where a news chopper was showing the chase between Spider-Man, Red Hood, and some kind of fire-ice monster. "Whoa, look at that thing go," one guy said.**

** "I know, but Spidey's going to kick that things ass"! Another declares.**

** "I don't know, looks like Spidey's got his work caught out for him this time," a third says.**

_**"He's not the only one AH HAHAHAHAHAHAHA"!**_** The workers turn and scream at some kind of walking red and black goo creature with blades for arms.**

** "OH GOD IN HEAVEN WHAT IS THAT THING?"!**

_**Ravencroft Penitentiary, 1:46 pm**_

** Isis was sitting on a chair with a bullet proof glass window in front of her holding a phone to the other side. Cleopatra was on the other side of the glass holding a phone of her own. Alison was sitting behind Isis, looking out for the young lady.**

** "So, happy birthday sis, sorry I couldn't be out there to celebrate it with you," Cleo said.**

** "Well at least I know where you and are and come to see you when I want," Isis responds. "Cleo, if and when Felicia is caught, do you think you two will finally just stop."**

** "Stop what?"**

** "Oh are you kidding me? Stop being thieves! Please, if you play your cards right, you two could get out with good behavior and we can all live a normal life and be together."**

** Cleo laughs, and Isis blushed with anger. "Sorry sis, it's just it would be a hard transition, especially all dad taught us. And besides, Felicia is with someone who knows how to play cards very well, and knowing her, she'll try to bust me out at the first opportunity."**

** "Not if I bust outta my cell first kitty cat." Alison, Isis, and Cleo turn to see Herman Schultz three chairs away from Cleo. The man who came to visit him wore a black coat and a hat to hide his eyes.**

** "That's it Schultz, just for that little outburst, this visit of yours is over," said one of the guards as he and three of his friends grab the struggling criminal. "You hear me you couple of freaks?! I'm going to bust outta here and kill all three of you"! At this point the guards start beating him and rushing him out the room. Isis ran back to Alison and clutches her in fear. The screaming continued in the hallway. "Come August, you'll be dead like the rest of your family"! Cleo just glared at the door and looked back with concern for her sister's well-being. The man who came to visit Shocker walks up to Alison and Isis and rubbed the back of his head.**

** "I would like to apologize for that little episode," he said. "To think I was here on behalf of my employer willing to offer that maniac a job upon his release. But after seeing that performance, someone must not have read his file. Again I apologize."**

** "Thank you Mr.?" Alison asked.**

** "Oh, I'm no one important, just a Gentleman looking for some competent workers for a job. If you'll excuse me, I have a lunch appointment with an actor." The Gentleman in question walks out of the room, leaving the girls confused and with their hearts beating.**

_**The Baxter Building, 2:01 pm**_

** Reed and the others gathered round the television to watch the chase going on involving Spider-Man. When Reed heard that the creature originated from Horizon Labs, he had H.E.R.B.I.E look up more information on the situation. H.E.R.B.I.E, or the Human Experimental Robot B-Type Integrated Electronics, is a robotic assistant Reed made to handle some of the more mundane tasks he has no time for. He was a floating machine with no arms with a screen for a face. His only features were two dots for eyes and a fluctuating mouth when it spoke.**

_**"After hacking police frequencies and the Horizon Lab's data base for file footage, I have determined the most probable explanation for the situation Dr. Richards,"**_** H.E.R.B.I.E stated. **_**"The laboratory where the explosion originated belonged to Dr. David Sorenson, whose experiments in thermodynamics was revered as highly controversial and has ultimately costed his job. According to security footage moments before the explosion, his son Terrance confronted him regarding an incident involving his wife Margay. The two fought and knocked over a highly volatile container which caused the explosion. A body was found under the ruble, but until it can be positively identified, it is unclear whether the abomination on the television is David or Terrance."**_

** "Oh my God Reed this is horrible," Sue said. Reed didn't respond as he was watching while doing calculations on how to stop this travesty. "Reed, REED?"!**

** He snaps out of it, "Oh, what? Sorry Sue, just doing the math in my head to find the perfect solution."**

** "I'll tell you a perfect solution; fighting fire with fire"! Johnny declares as he walks to the window.**

** "Johnny what do you think you're doing?" Sue asked.**

** "I'm going to do something about this; I'm not going to sit around watching Spider-Man and the Hood just taking pot shots at this guy. Besides, they cannot even touch him"!**

_**"At the risk of saying 'does not compute' I'm afraid Mr. Storm's assessment is actually accurate," **_**H.E.R.B.I.E said.**

** "C'mon, you telling me that the hot head here is the only hope we got?" Ben added.**

_**"No Mr. Grimm, while Mr. Storm can absorb Equinox's fire based attacks, his ice attacks suggest sub-zero temperatures that can negate and or put out Mr. Storm's attacks."**_

** "Who's Equinox?"**

_**"Forgive me; it's the moniker I gave the unidentified monster. His form alternates between fire and ice at an equally, increasingly destabilizing rate. It seemed the perfect name for a supervillian."**_

** "Destabilizing?" Reed mutters under his breath. "That's it"! He stretches his body to his work bench and moves aside a letter from Beacon Academy and several weapon modifications for Hunters. He takes out a few tools and some metal pieces. "Sue, I want you, Johnny, and Ben to go down there and help Spider-Man and the Hood keep Equinox contained while I put a little something together."**

** "Reed, you're forgetting we're still in quarantine," Sue reminded.**

** "Oh right, H.E.R.B.I.E, disable quarantine field, priority Alpha."**

_**"Done Dr. Richards, would you like assistance?" **_**the floating machine asked.**

** "Bring up Dr. Sorenson's notes on thermodynamics. If I can review his research, maybe I can reverse the effects of their outcome"!**

** "You mean to tell me you could've done that at any given time?"! Johnny asked.**

** "That is currently irrelevant, you three are needed elsewhere post haste."**

** "We are so not done with this. FLAME ON"! Johnny ignites and flies straight through the window.**

** "JOHNNY"!**

** "Oh don't even start Reed, we'll talk about this when we get back," Sue said as she projected an invisible platform for her and Ben to travel on. They lift up in the air and follow after Johnny into the heat of battle.**

**Next Time: It's Clobberin Time!**


	12. Chapter 12

**CHAPTER 11: IT'S CLOBBERIN TIME!**

_**Vale City, 2:09 pm**_

** "LEAVE ME ALONE"! Equinox yelled at the heroes as he tossed another fireball. Spider-Man and Ruby ducked behind a car and stayed pinned down.**

** "Any bright ideas boss, you know, besides hiding?" Ruby asked as she fired a few rounds.**

** "For the first time, I have no idea how to handle this," Arden admitted. "I can't use my Venom Sting or touch him at all or I'll end up melted or a spidersicle. The only option I got is to keep him here until S.P.E.A.R sends someone who can actually touch this guy."**

** Suddenly two fireballs fall from the sky and a man on fire lands right in front of the monster.**

** "Ask and you shall receive," Ruby said.**

** "Hey, I'm only going to say this once," the fire man said, "Nobody else is hotter than me"! Johnny fires twin streams of fire from his hands and they engulf Equinox. But Terry stood his ground and fired back with a beam of ice. The ice beam slowly started to overpower Johnny's fire and was close enough for Johnny to feel the freeze. Johnny closed his eyes, expecting become the hottest Popsicle on Remnant, but nothing happened. He opens his eyes and sees the ice beam was held at bay by an unseen force.**

** "Johnny, move out of the way"! Sue yelled behind him while concentrating on keeping up the force field. Johnny flies out of the way and Sue lets the shield down.**

** "What's going on here?" Equinox asked, "Where did you people come from?"!**

** "You know, I was just about to ask the same thing," Arden said to Ruby.**

** Ignoring the supervillian, Johnny said to him, "Hey Ben, guess what time it is."**

** Equinox was confused when he felt a tap to the shoulder. He turns to see a man made of rocks behind him with his right fist cocked back. "It's Clobberin Time"! Ben yelled as he socked the bad guy in the face and he went flying into the side of a building. "What's the matter Matchstick, your new playmate too hot for you to handle?"**

** "Nah, he pretty much gave me the cold shoulder, so I figured you might have more fun than me. He's all yours."**

** As Ben and Equinox began to duke it out, Sue slapped Johnny's arm. "This isn't a game Johnny, you could have gotten yourself or someone else hurt or worse"!**

** "Wow, this sounds eerily familiar," Ruby said as she and Spider-Man walked over to join the arguing siblings. In the background, Equinox was shooting fire at Ben, who withstood it, ran up, and gave the kid a mean uppercut to the jaw.**

** "Oh my God, you're Spider-Man"! Johnny yelled as he entered fan-boy mode.**

** "You know, **_**that**_** sounds familiar too," Arden said nudging Ruby's arm.**

** "Dude, I'm a huge fan, I think what you do is just totally awesome how you beat up bad guys. Plus, you're probably a huge hit with the ladies." At this point, Equinox was punching Ben with frosted hands, leaving behind patches of ice on the rock man's body.**

** "Oh yeah, I'm just **_**swooning**_** for a date," Ruby said sarcastically. Ben picks up a car and throws it at Equinox, burying him under the automobile.**

** "Well I am single, but I realize I don't have time for a relationship in between, well, this," Arden said, pointing over to the battle going on behind them. Equinox erupts from the car enraged and sending fire and ice blasts everywhere. Spider-Man, Ruby, and the Storm siblings take cover behind one of Sue's shields. Ben tackles Terry to the ground and they continue to fight. "Hey wait a minute, aren't you guys the crew from the **_**Fantastic Voyager**_**?"**

** "That we are," Sue replied.**

** "And now all of a sudden you have these cool powers?"**

** "Dude, you don't even know the **_**half**_** of it," Johnny commented.**

** "How the hell did that happen?"**

** "Trust me; it's a long story, especially if you have Reed tell it. The abridged version is that we flew straight into that freaky storm thing and now we have powers. As you can see, I can turn on fire and fly, my sister here can become invisible and create force fields, and Ben over there is a walking mountain."**

** "Oh cool, but what about Dr. Richards, what kind of powers did he get?"**

** Suddenly a ball came bouncing right in front of them. As soon as it hit the ground, it extended into an elongated Reed Richards wielding some kind of ray gun. "Ben, get out of the way"! Ben rolls off Equinox and Reed fires at the poor kid's chest. The beam that erupted from the gun caused the monster to revert back into human form and he falls down, out cold.**

** "Pretty much that," Johnny said answering Arden's question. At this time, several S.P.E.A.R vehicles pull up and secure the area. Nick Fury himself steps out of one of them and orders the supervillian detained.**

** "Dr. Richards, you have my profound thanks for breaking quarantine, going public without authorization, and using untested weapons tech in a populated area," Fury said sarcastically.**

** Reed hands the gun over to Fury and explains his reasoning. "My apologies Director, but there wasn't any time to test my Thermic Stabilizer, you see it takes…"**

** "Skip the mumbo jumbo Richards and give me an explanation I can **_**actually**_** understand."**

** "Basically, I neutralized Equinox's powers."**

** "Who the hell is Equinox?"**

** "The poor kid over there who I was just wrestling a few minutes ago," Ben said.**

** "Yes, it would appear that the 'rampaging' monster was indeed Terrance Sorenson," Reed added. "Director Fury, please tell me you're not going to lock this kid up with all those criminals. He was confused and quite frankly, he's been through enough as it is with his mother in ICU and deceased father."**

** "I have no choice Richards, he's an illegal super powered human who possess a threat to public safety. That being said, it's fortunate we have **_**multiple**_** levels of the subterranean prison. I can assure you he will have a cell reserved for the level where we keep superhumans with the possibility for rehabilitation, unless of course your ray gun already did the trick?"**

** "Unfortunately no, the effects only last for three hours. I'll need to jerry rig one of your inhibitor collars with a miniaturized Thermic Stabilizer as soon as possible."**

** "You have two hours."**

** "I'll do it in one."**

** "Fantastic," Fury slaps Reed on the back and walks over to Arden. "As for you, I would stand here and rant about your little sidekick here, but you two are far down on my list of s**t I need to get down, so you're off the hook. But I got my eye on you." Fury walks back to his car and drives off.**

** "Hey, I'm not a sidekick"! Ruby yelled. Arden was about to retort when a bunch of reporters and cameras came running up to Dr. Richards and his crew.**

** "C'mon Hood, let's let Vale's newest heroes bask in the spotlight," Arden said and swung off with Ruby on his heels.**

** In the S.P.E.A.R vehicle, Director Fury sat with Agent Coulson, the Director had several files with him.**

** "So what is it you wanted to discuss with me Director Fury?" Coulson asked.**

** "Coulson," Fury started, "Did you know that there has been a serial killer responsible for countless deaths for the last two hundred years? At least, that's how far back our criminal records go. At first we thought that it could be a cult, leaving behind mutilated corpses and their calling card. But now that we have a better understanding of a certain Grimm species that came to light during the Battle of Vale City, I think we may have a better idea on **_**what**_** this killer is." Fury hands Coulson a file from the docks and he looks over autopsy reports and photographs. One photo got his attention; it was the word "CARNAGE" written in blood.**

_**VNN Station, 7:28 pm**_

** Arden sat in Dex's office, waiting for his shift to end. After leaving the scene back in the city, Arden decided to call it a day for the both himself and Ruby. Besides the occasional rampage from people like this Equinox character, crime has been significantly down lately. The only crime going on is in Hell's Kitchen, but Arden's only patrolling that area until Daredevil gets back on his feet. Arden was re-watching the interview that VNN had with the "Fantastic Four" just after he left. He laughed as the young one, Johnny, gave everyone a new name. Apparently Reed Richards is now Mr. Fantastic, his sister Sue is the Invisible Woman, he is calling himself the Human Torch, and poor Ben Grimm is unfortunately the Thing.**

** "Alright Arden, I free you from the bonds of servitude," Dex said coming into his office.**

** "Thanks boss, nice job on the interview with the Fantastic Four," Arden replied.**

** "You think so, because I scored an exclusive with Mr. Fantastic himself. We're not sure when he'll do it, but we put something in the books."**

** "That's cool, can't wait to see it." Arden waves goodbye to his boss and heads to the exit. As he made it outside, Arden looked around to see if anybody was nearby and planned to jump on the roof to change. His Spider Sense went off and he turned and stopped to see that a familiar face had snuck up behind him.**

** "**_**Excusez-moi,**_**" the last thing Arden saw was gas being sprayed into his face and he dropped like a sack of bricks.**

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**Authors Note: Another arc down, and another Deadpool chapter coming up before we resume.**

**Next Time: A Sisterhood of Love & A Brotherhood of Hate**


	13. Chapter 13

**CHAPTER 12: A SISTERHOOD OF LOVE & A BROTHERHOOD OF HATE**

_**Vale City, 20 years in the future**_

** Gabriel entered the casino's old theater, now being used as a makeshift orphanage for the children who were left parentless by Ultron's forces. All the human and Faunus children were sitting in a semi-circle while a Faunus woman sitting on the stage was telling them a story. As he approached, one of the boys turned and his face lit up.**

** "Hey Gabriel's here"! All the children turned, got up, and ran to the young swordsman, bombarding him with questions like, "Did you bring us anything? How many robots did you slice up? Did you kill Ultron again?"**

** "Alright settle down," he said, "I just came here to see Mrs. Vulpes." Gabe returns his attention to the thirty-eight year old Faunus woman jumping down from the stage. He walks up to her and she hugs him.**

** "Oh honey I'm glad to see you," Roxanne said.**

** "Mom, it was just a routine patrol, it's nothing to get upset about."**

** "But I'm always afraid that the next time you leave, it might be for the last time." She begins to choke up at the idea of losing her son.**

** Gabe grabs her arm and reassures her. "Hey, hey, that's **_**never**_** going to happen. Ultron can throw how many machines my way and I'll beat them all. He could upload himself in all the bodies he wants; I'll take them all down one by one. You'll see; I'll make everyone wake up from this nightmare."**

** Roxanne smiles and hugs her son again. Suddenly, a soldier bursts through the door and walks past the kids. "Gabriel…oh, sorry to intrude," he said.**

** "What is it?"**

** "The X-Men just teleported in and Spider-Man wants to see you, priority alert"!**

** Gabriel dashes out of the theater and runs in the hall where he ran into Armor, Micromax, and Elixir. "So you guys heard about your friends?"**

** The gold skinned Elixir nodded and said, "Spider-Man said there was wounded, that's why I'm on my way."**

** "As for us, probably the same reason as you," Armor said to Gabe. They all make it to the group of X-Men, surrounded by stunned soldiers, Spider-Man, and Blake Belladonna, and Elixir immediately rushes to the injured Boom-Boom. Armor looks around at the group and notices not everyone is present. "Where are Sunspot and Phase?"**

** Bishop looks at her and says, "They did not make it. Mark X Sentinels."**

** "Son of a bitch"! Micromax yelled.**

** "We'll grieve later; you said you needed to see me Bishop?" Arden asked.**

** "Yes, we need to fortify this place, Ultron is on the march, and this time; he might just kill us all."**

_**An Undisclosed Location, 8:05 pm**_

** Arden Ambrose was beginning to regain consciousness from being knocked out. He was sitting in a chair; his arms were behind the back of the chair with his wrists tied together by plastic zip ties. He kept his eyes closed while going through a lot of different scenarios. **_**Okay Arden keep calm, you were just abducted outside your workplace. You are tied up, probably in a warehouse, somewhere in the city. You can't be sure if whoever abducted you knows you're Spider-Man or not, but it's best if you don't break out of these bindings, which you know you can. Now just think about the bastard who jumped and gassed you. He said "Excusez-moi," oh crap that card throwing SOB! But that means…**_

** "I hear breathing, he's awake," a woman said.**

_**Crap.**_

__**Arden felt his head being lifted up and was staring into the face of Felicia Hardy, her platinum blonde hair glowing in the lights overhead. She lets go of his head and he straightens out, peering past the Faunus and looking at the mutant shuffling his cards. He gave a mocking salute and went back to shuffling. "Did you have a nice nap big boy?" she asked sarcastically.**

** "I was, but looking at a pretty girl like you is a little nicer," Arden responds.**

** "Ha, and I thought you had a girlfriend."**

** "That's a long story, but anyway, may I ask why I'm tied up in a warehouse (called it) presumably still in the city?"**

** "Now that's an interesting story, but the short of it is you're my bargaining chip to reuniting my family."**

** Arden let that sink in and laughed nervously. "Excuse me?"**

** "You heard me, that cop of a grandfather of yours took my little sister. The police took my big sister back to jail. And now word on the street is the Shocker wants to kill all three of us! With Cleo locked up in the same joint as him, I don't have a lot of time. I'm getting the family back together and then we're gone."**

** "Ok, a few things wrong with your plan. First, do you really think going through with a hostage situation is **_**really**_** going to get your sisters back? Ok sure, you can keep the cops at bay with your fancy claws and Magic Mike over there, but remember I'm not the only hero in Vale City anymore. What happens if you go toe-to-toe with the Fantastic Four? Second, are you sure you want to go through with this on Isis's birthday?"**

** Felicia slaps him across the face and Arden pretended it hurt like hell (FYI, it didn't). "Not guna lie, dat was kinda hot," Gambit commented.**

** "Don't speak about my sister, got it?" she asked.**

** "Even to say that she's a nice, caring person?" Arden asked. "Felicia, you don't have to do this, in fact, I was actually trying to find **_**you**_**."**

** "Really, now why would you do that?"**

** "To ask you to come to the party my mom and dad are throwing for your sister on Saturday, peacefully."**

** Felicia and Gambit looked at him surprised. "Your parents are throwing **_**my**_** sister a party? Why would they do that?"**

** "Because we care about her, and before you slap me, know that that doesn't imply that you and Cleo **_**don't **_**care about her. It's just, when was the last time you or either of your sister's had a **_**real**_** birthday party?"**

** She thinks about it, sifting through a lot of painful memories. "It's about ten, going on eleven years now."**

** "Yes, and now, she's finally getting a party that girls her age normally experience. And when I said to her that I would be cool with the idea of you showing up, all respectful and no stealing, her face lit up. Bottom line, you don't have to kidnap someone to get your way. So please, just let me go and we can go see Isis together. What do you say?"**

** The look of guilt on Felicia's face was heartbreaking. She leaned in and kissed Arden on the cheek, much to the jealousy of Gambit. "Thank you for looking after Isis, but…" she was interrupted by violent shaking around the entire building. A section of the wall breaks open and the mutants Pyro and Avalanche walk in.**

** "Hello, 'ello, looks like the boss hit the nail on the 'ead," Pyro said. "He really **_**did**_** know Gambit and the thief were here"!**

** "Yeah, and it looks like we walked into something nasty," Avalanche added.**

** "I'll say, but les just complete our mission, oy?"**

** "What about the human?"**

** "What **_**about**_** the human?" Avalanche drops the issue and Pyro launches twin streams of fire, turning them into a pack of hell hounds. Gambit jumps to the side and evades the flaming pooches as he throws some charged cards for covering fire.**

** "Felicia, get da boy outa here," Gambit ordered, "I'll fend off des yahoos"!**

** "Remy I'm not leaving you"! She responds.**

** "Dis ain't open for discussion, move"! He throws more cards as Avalanche unleashes another quake. As Felicia cut Arden free, pieces of the ceiling started falling down and a large chunk hit Felicia square on her head. He grabs her, looks back at Gambit, and runs off with the cat Faunus in his arms out the back. Pyro was about to give chase but Remy stopped him with a swat of his staff. But Avalanche was right on top of him and slammed his head against the hard floor, knocking him out.**

** "Mission accomplished mate, let's get back to base," Pyro said.**

** "I don't know," Avalanche said, "It just seems weird making war with one of our kind ya know?"**

** "I know, but the boss needs him for a specific job, and knowing his suave nature, he wouldn't have left that Sheila's side any time soon." The two mutants leave with their package in tow.**

** On the rooftop, Arden had Felicia cradled in his arms as he watched the mutant terrorists depart. **_**Damn, I wonder what that was about **_**he asked himself. Arden looks down at the young, unconscious cat Faunus and felt a sense of déjà vu over take him. **_**Oh man, Isis may like this, but I will not here the end of it from mom and dad.**_

_**Flashback: Thursday June 18**__**th**__**, 3:45 pm**_

** Maxwell Dillon was strapped to a gurney with the inhibitor collar around his neck, preventing him from using his powers. It's been over an hour and a half since the end of the attack and he heard other prisoners being led into their cells, into their new homes. Director Fury himself was overseeing the process himself.**

** "You do realize you're putting me in a prison that runs on electricity right?" Max implied with no specific emotion in his voice. The S.P.E.A.R agents move the gurney to the empty cell, unstrap Dillon, and toss him in. The guard powers up the energized cell and the ex-CEO rises.**

** "That's not a concern so long as that collar prevents you from lighting the place up," Fury fired back.**

** "True, but I can still feel it you know, the electricity. It's a part of me now, a force of nature you can't hope to contain. I'm more powerful than you know. The light of my life was snuffed out with my company and more importantly, my wife. And when I get out of here, all those who wronged me, who hurt me," he looked at Tiberius Stone as he passed his cell, "Will know what it's like to live in darkness. And then everyone will know what I've become."**

** Fury walks up to the cell and gets as close as possible. "That's all well and good, but what exactly do you think you've become, a God?"**

** Max Dillon looks at Rhino as he was led down the corridor and makes his declaration. "Don't you know; I'm Electro"!**


	14. Chapter 14

**CHAPTER 13: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!**

_**The Home of Arden Ambrose, Saturday July 9**__**th**__**, 5:21 pm**_

** Arden and his parents were putting the finishing touches on the decorations for Isis's party, which starts around seven. Felicia looked on from the living room sofa, wearing a simple black T-shirt and some sweat pants. "Are you sure you don't need my help?" she said.**

** "Nope, we got it covered," Alison said brushing her off.**

** "C'mon mom, she's offering to help," Arden said.**

** "Don't start with me young man; I'm still mad at you."**

_**Flashback: Wednesday July 6**__**th**__**, 8:43 pm**_

** Felicia lay unconscious in the guest room with Isis stroking her hand, worried beyond belief. After Arden escaped from the mutant attack, he called his parents about what happened and he swung home, bringing Felicia into the guest room where Dr. Ambrose checked her for injuries and Isis not leaving her side. Despite his professional nature, Leonard had his concerns about this incident. Alison was a bit more, assertive, with her questioning, especially after Arden told her Felicia had him kidnapped.**

** "So, instead of bringing her to the hospital, you bring the girl who abducted you and physically attacked you into our home?"! Alison stated to her son. Isis looked up at her foster mother. "No offense to your sister sweetheart, but I just don't trust her intentions. What if she tried to run off with you?"**

** "She won't, because I'll talk to her," Isis replied, receiving a concerned look from both parents. "Please, can she just stay until my party?"**

** "That's three days from now," Leonard said.**

** "Consider it my birthday gift from the three of you?" Isis smiled and laughed weakly. But those eyes of her started to water. "Please don't call the police; I don't want to visit her in prison like Cleo. I can't have **_**both**_** my sisters locked in a place full of people who want to kill them"! She cried and buried her face into her arms and bed.**

** Arden patted her on the back and gave her a hug. "Hey, hey, we're not going to do that to you. She can stay until after the party and then we'll figure something out, okay?" He looked at the young girl and his parents, who gave their reluctant approval. Isis cheered up and squeezed Arden back. "I mean besides, this isn't the **_**first**_** time we had a cute Faunus girl staying in the guest bed."**

** "WHAT?"! Alison yelled as Arden and Leonard turned white and Isis's confused face turned red. And that started a **_**whole**_** different argument.**

_**Present**_

** "Yeah we got it Felicia," Arden said remembering the long arguments from a couple days ago. "But I did want to get your opinion on the gift I got Isis, mind if borrow a few minutes of your time?"**

** "Sure, not like I got anything else to do," Felicia responded as the pair head upstairs.**

** "Huh, if I didn't know any better I say they were becoming fast friends," Leonard insinuated, hanging up a few more balloons.**

** "More like she's trying to win us over with that charm of hers," Alison said, then sighing. "I'm sorry, I'm sure Isis wouldn't like me bad mouthing her sister, but I just don't trust her. And before you start with one of your moral stories, know this has **_**nothing **_**to do with her being a Faunus. If that was the case, then Isis wouldn't be here, it's because she's a deceitful thief."**

** "C'mon honey, Isis and her sisters had it rough, growing up without a family because they were violently taken from them. They're very protective of one another, and you can't blame Felicia for being suspicious of us too. God knows what kind of hardships they endured living on the streets."**

** "Leonard, she kidnapped our son."**

** "Only to be with her sister again, and besides, Arden's a man now, he can take care of himself." Leonard was choosing his words carefully, just in case Felicia's ears were picking up their conversation.**

** "I know." Husband and wife stop and hug one another. Alison then looks up the stairs and yells, "Arden, leave the door open"!**

** In Arden's room, both he and the Faunus blushed at his mother's words. "Pay no attention to the crazy lady downstairs," Arden said, earning a laugh from Felicia.**

** "It's alright, I'm used to people not trusting me," she said. "Just like how I don't trust people."**

** "What about me and my folks?" Arden was in his closet looking for the bag with Isis's present inside.**

** "You seem like decent people, especially since you're humans who have no problems with our kind. You have no idea how rare that is these days."**

** "Yeah, it sucks huh? Ah, voila"! Arden takes out the bag and hands it to Felicia. She takes out the item and smiles.**

** "It's a laptop."**

** "Yeah, the one she had when she was, arrested (sorry), was confiscated and put into evidence lockup. I've been letting her use mine, but it's such a piece of crap that a smart gal like her deserves a new, up-to-date model."**

** "Yep, our little genius who can crack a fire wall in ten seconds flat"!**

** "I'm sorry; she hasn't gotten the chance to be her old self since moving in. I figured this little gift will help make her happy to indulge in her old hobby. By that I mean her love of computers, you know, not the whole, thief thing, and I hope I don't offend you or anything."**

** Felicia holds out her index finger and presses it against his lips, shushing him. "Thoughtful, caring, protective, and a little nervous…," Felicia removes her finger, leans in, and kisses him on the lips for ten seconds. "…Just the kind of things I like in a man." She gets up and leaves the room, heading back downstairs.**

** Arden lets what just happened sink in before saying, "It's official; there are no such things as normal girls; human, mutant, Faunus, or otherwise."**

_**Vale City, 6:34 pm**_

** Dr. Octavius was observing the setting sun on a rooftop in the middle of the city. Phil Ulrich stood next to him wearing a mechanical suit. Most of the suit's armor plating was black, save for the plating on the right shoulder, arm and leg which was a bright orange. He had a grin plastered on his face, revealing sharpened teeth and his hair was spiked back. His glider lay next to him. This one was more plain and military looking than Tyler's old glider with the gargoyle head on the front. The only striking feature was that it was painted orange.**

** "I take it you're enjoying your promotion in our organization, Hobgoblin?" Octavius asked Ulrich.**

** Phil laughed looking at himself and his glider. "I got a mechanical suit that absorbs most form of damage, a new glider that makes Stone's look like it had training wheels, and an updated serum that makes me stronger than the old boss **_**before**_** his overdose **_**minus**_** the voices in my head? What's **_**not**_** to love Ock?"**

** "I'm glad to hear it. By the way, did you send that message to the remaining members of the Goblin Underground?"**

** "Yeah, all twenty-four of them are meeting in the old Nelson & Murdock building in Hell's Kitchen. You want me to do it?"**

** "That won't be necessary; I already have someone on that. I need you to go to this address and scare a few people for me." Octavius hands him a piece of paper with instructions and Hobgoblin takes it. "And I really mean **_**scare**_**, do not kill anyone, you understand?"**

** "Crystal Doc, you can count on me"! Hobgoblin jumps on his glider and laughs.**

** "Good, otherwise I'll need to find a new sixth member," Ock said to himself.**

_**The Triskellion, 6:42 pm**_

** Two guards, one large and one small, were escorting a new prisoner to the subterranean prison. The prisoner in question was Jason Wyngarde, also known as Mastermind, a mutant capable of casting illusions if her were not wearing an inhibitor collar. He was a man in his forties with his grey hair tied into a pony tail wearing the orange prison garb he changed into when brought here. As the three people entered the express elevator to the prison, the smaller guard turned to Mastermind.**

** "Hey, I heard a rumor that you got your powers from some rogue government program, is that true?" he asked.**

** Jason laughed. "Every rumor you hear does have a grain of truth in it. But my specialty is to distort the truth so far as to mess with how you perceive things. For example; you think you are safe because I'm wearing this collar that blocks my powers. But what if I told you," he waves his hand and the collar disappears, "I never had it on."**

** The guard was shocked and was about to pull out his side arm when the larger guard popped his claws and stabbed the smaller man in the heart. Sabertooth's illusionary disguise drops as he retracts his arm.**

** "Are you sure the cameras aren't picking **_**any**_** of this up Victor?" Jason asked.**

** "I've been told that another group has people on the inside who are playing all security feeds to the prison on a recursive loop. Trust me, we're good," he responds.**

** "Yes, and is it true they're paying you a great deal of money to bust out some of their associates?"**

** "Ha, you're the one who believes in grains of truth, what do you think?" The elevator pops open and they step out. They walk down the corridor of cells, attracting the attention of some inmates, and eventually find their objectives; Toad and Mystique. As Jason pulls out a key card to free Toad, Victor did the same for Mystique. "Where are those other two who got locked up with you?"**

** "Don't get me started on those traitors"! Mystique yelled.**

** "Nice to see you again too Raven."**

** "It's **_**always**_** nice seeing you beautiful," Toad added hopping to her side. Mystique responded by kicking him in the face. "Love hurts."**

** "Do we **_**have**_** to free this disgusting wretch?" Raven asked.**

** "Orders are orders, now get to the elevator with the others, I'll be along shortly," Sabertooth ordered. The three other mutants run to the elevator and Victor walks up to Rhino's cell. "I'm going to let you out of here, just don't try and think you can attack me."**

** "Why should I listen to you?" Rhino asked.**

** "Because your employers have a bullhead equipped with a special harness all fueled up and ready to go once I open your cage. It's in hanger three." Victor swipes the card and Rhino steps out and sprints to the elevator at the other end of the floor. Sabertooth then walks up to Electro's cell. "Same offer goes to you."**

** "Why should I go? I don't owe anyone anything, except a little payback to Tiberius Stone over there," he stated.**

** "Because these guys can get you your sweet revenge provided you hold off on killing big daddy Stone. They also said you'll get a chance at the Web Slinger."**

** Electro looks at him and says, "I'm in, just let me out and get this damn collar off me"! Victor complies and opens the cell and slashes the collar off Electro. All that built up energy flowed forth and Max was engulfed in electricity, turning blue. He then pointed his hand at an outlet and flowed into it, disappearing.**

** "Shocking," Sabertooth said as he ran to the elevator to join his comrades.**

_**The Home of Arden Ambrose, 6:59 pm**_

** A car pulls up to the house and Isis and Jeffery Ambrose get out. "Thanks for the day out Detective Ambrose," Isis said.**

** "No problem, the least I can do for missing your actual birthday," Jeffery responded.**

** Isis felt a rain drop hit her nose as she looks up at the cloudy night sky. "Now the only thing that can bring a downer is this bad weather." Just as the rain picks up and the duo runs to the entrance, the rain suddenly stops and the sky clears up. "What the…?" She opens the door and confetti is thrown in her face.**

** "SURPRISE"! Despite knowing she was getting a party, Isis was stilled surprised and happy to see more people celebrate her day then she expected. Besides the Ambrose's and her sister, standing in the living room wishing her a happy birthday was Ororo Monroe-McCoy, Garabed Bashur, Paige and Sam Guthrie, and Hisako Ichiki.**

** "I take it the sudden good weather was you're doing Storm?" Isis asked already knowing the answer.**

** "Consider it my gift to you child, on your special day," Ororo said. When Storm heard Alison was planning this party, she asked if it would be alright if she and the younger students could attend. Alison said yes, hoping Isis would like to talk to kids in her own age group. As for the young mutants themselves, they didn't mind, considering they felt stuffed in the mansion since they were not allowed on missions. Sam insisted on going, just to look after his sister.**

** And so the party was in full swing, the adults were talking, Isis was having a good time with the young mutants and Arden was chatting with Sam, hoping to avoid Felicia as much as possible.**

** After a while, Alison announced, "Alright, I think it's time for cake"! But just as everyone took a step, there was a static sound, as if a microphone was turned on, and a voiced boomed.**

_**"Happy Birthday to you,"**_** the high pitched voice sang slowly, making Arden's blood run cold.**

** Arden runs out with everyone behind him and stops dead in his tracks and looks up. **_**Oh no!**_** He yelled in his head.**

** Hovering in the sky was the Hobgoblin as he continued to sing slowly. **_**"Happy birthday to you…happy birthday dear dead kit-ten…happy birthday to you, **_**Hu, Hu, Hu, Ha, Ha, Ha, AH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"!**

**Next Time: Mutants and Goblins and Spiders Oh My! **


	15. Chapter 15

**CHAPTER 14: MUTANTS & GOBLINS & SPIDERS OH MY!**

_**Hell's Kitchen, the old Nelson & Murdock Building, 7:42 pm**_

** Twenty four criminals carrying assault rifles and wearing either pumpkin or goblin masks were standing around the lobby of the old law office talking and smoking cigarettes.**

** "Hey, mind if I bum one of those off ya Freddy K?" a crook named Mickey said to a guy with a cigarette hanging from his lips and holding a pack of cigs.**

** "Yeah sure why not," Freddy responds as he hands one to his pal and gives him a book of matches. "So what's the deal, why did the boss want us to meet him here for?"**

** Mickey takes a drag off the death stick and exhales a puff of smoke. "No idea."**

** "So wait, the boss called us out here, in the middle of Hell's Kitchen, and he didn't tell us why?"**

** "What's the big deal?"**

** "The 'big deal' is that every time we rendezvoused with the old boss, he would at least give us a clue as to what's going down. Like, he would tell us if we were planning another job or going to rough up a rival gang, but this is outta the freaking blue."**

** "I know what you mean, but maybe it's a surprise. You know how unstable the boss can get."**

** "Yeah, maybe you're right; I just hope we don't run into…" Suddenly three grenades are tossed from outside and shatter the windows. The projectiles land at the group's feet and dispense smoke. Every crook had their guns pointed haphazardly in all directions, bunched up together as they listen for the littlest of foreign sound. Mickey felt one guy get pulled away next to him and the room is then filled with screams and gun fire.**

** "I know that **_**thwipping **_**sound anywhere, the Web Freak's here boys"! More yelling and gunfire erupts, but slowly dissipates as one by one each criminal is pulled up and away. After several minutes, only Freddy K and Mickey are left standing, back to back.**

** "Yo Mickey, did you hear that?" Freddy asked as the smoke started to clear.**

** "Hear what?"**

** "After some of the others got yanked, I could have sworn I heard stabbing."**

** "Stabbing? You must be losing it, everybody knows Spider-Man don't kill."**

** "Oh yeah, what makes you the expert?"**

** "I got a cousin who was interrogated by the Web Slinger a couple months back after he busted the Ghost Rider deal. Had him dangling over a roof and everything, but didn't kill 'em. Point is, Spidey don't kill." Freddy felt reassured until he felt a drop hit his nose.**

** "What the, the sprinkler system on the fritz or…?" He stopped as he and Mickey looked up and saw their friends, the twenty-two Joe Shmoes they shared booze and laughs with, dripping blood from knife wounds in the chest while hanging by web lines around their necks. "Oh my God, OH MY GOD HE FREAKING KILLED THEM"! Both thugs fired everywhere, knowing about the Spider's invisibility and hoping to get a lucky shot in.**

** But Mickey started to lose it. "YOU AIN'T THE SPIDER! THE SPIDER DOESN'T KILL! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?"! Suddenly his gun was knocked from his hand and felt a knife impale his heart. Blood curled at his lips as a figure in all-black wearing a sleeveless leather vest, undershirt, jeans, boots, a gun holster on each hip occupied by twin Wilson Combat Classics, and a grenade belt slung across his right shoulder. His entire head was covered in a balaclava and goggles.* Freddy stood in awe as he saw this guy materialize from nowhere and hold his knife in his friend's insides.**

** "You're right, I'm not the Spider," the guy said as he withdrew his knife and Mickey drops dead. "You're in the Tarantula's web." Tarantula vanishes before Freddy's eyes, and the poor crook blindly opened fire, screaming for his life.**

_**The Home of Arden Ambrose, 7:43 pm**_

** Arden, his family, and their friends looked up at the sight of Phil Ulrich standing on his glider, hovering in place smiling like a madman. **_**Oh God this is bad, really bad**_** Arden thought. **_**Does he know who I am? But how, I barely even met this guy as Spider-Man. Whatever it is, I better get him talking.**_** "Uh, dude, you were so not invited to this party, so why the hell are you here?" Arden asked boldly.**

** "Interesting question," he responded, "Why **_**are**_** we here? It is one of life's greatest mysteries isn't it? But first, do you even know who **_**I**_** am?"**

** "Yeah, I've seen you on T.V next to pictures of Tyler Stone. You're Phil Ulrich, friends of the most psychotic nutjob in Vale City."**

** "Too true, but these days, I've become the new Goblin. You can call me the Hobgoblin"!**

** "What is orange the new green or something?"**

** "Something like that, but other than my name, do you know **_**anything**_** else about me other than Stone's Pal-A-Rooney?"**

** "Oh God, is this the part where you tell us your whole life story?"**

** "Not entirely, just the relevant stuff. Do you want to know why I had to live in the Stone's mansion instead of my own home? Well, it all started when I was eight, I wanted a cat because they were so adorable and easy to take care of. But my mother said, 'cats are wandering animals that end up humping each other until we're all living in a city full of strays'." Phil watched the confused looks come across the younger kid's faces, but the metaphor wasn't lost on Arden, Felicia and the adults. "I know a real class act right? But fortunately I didn't have to put up with her forever because three months later she was mugged and stabbed to death by a cat Faunus. Is that irony or just a coincidence?"**

** Everyone's faces were shocked and Arden thought, **_**Oh God this is going exactly where I think it is.**_

** "Fast forward to four years ago, Tiberius Stone was at some press conference promoting some crappy Alchemax innovation when my old man spotted a red laser aimed at the CEO's heart. He pushed him out of the way and died from a bullet wound to the heart. Turns out, it was a White Fang hitman who pulled the trigger." At this point, Felicia slowly moved back to be with her sister. "So let's recap," he held out his right hand and raised each one and his thumb at each point," My mom was stabbed by a Faunus, my dad was shot by a Faunus, I grew up bitter and the wingman of a spoiled rich kid with a Faunus girlfriend, I got all these dangerous new toys, and I'm hovering in front of a house home to a normal family who decided to take in a couple of strays who happen to be a part of one of this city's greatest thieving families. Anyone else figured out why I'm here yet?" Felicia grabs Isis's arm and runs her inside. Hobgoblin grins sadistically and flies into the front door, busting up the frame, knocks Felicia away as he grabbed Isis, and slammed through the back door and rises high above the roof.**

** "Let her go you son of a bitch"! Alison yelled. Leonard nods to Arden and he runs inside to check on Felicia. Storm's eyes began to glow white as she powered up.**

** "Are you sure that's wise my dear?! Or maybe you're also curious to see if a feline Faunus can land on their feet? AH HAHAHAHA"!**

** Felicia ran out of the house and looked up, helpless to do anything. "Please, just bring her back down; I'll do anything you want"! Felicia pleaded.**

** "What I **_**want**_** is to continue watching you grovel for your sister's life before I push her off and watch her go splat." Isis was tearing up and hyperventilating for being so high and at the thought that she just might die tonight. "I'll kill every single one of your treacherous kind, showing no mercy." He pushed Isis forward and she began to drop and everybody screamed.**

** "NOOOOOOOOOOO"! Felicia yelled.**

** Suddenly a red and blue blur jumps up from the roof and catches Isis in mid fall. Spider-Man lands on the roof back first and absorbed the impact while clutching the young Faunus. They roll to the edge but Arden stops them by imbedding his right arm in the gutters. "So, I take it you will never go bungee jumping after this?" Arden asked.**

** Isis just looks at him and hugs Arden with all her strength. "Thank you, thank you, thank you"!**

** But the embrace was short lived as Spider-Man saw a pumpkin bomb land to the left of him. Not wasting a second, he throws Isis off the roof, makes a safety net from his webbing, and jumps off as the bomb blows, taking a chunk out of the roof. Arden saw Isis land safely and Felicia running up to check on her. But his Spider Sense flared as Hobgoblin swoops down and grabs the vigilante while still in mid-air.**

** "You, he was right when he said **_**you**_** would show up"! Hobgoblin said throwing him away. Arden somersaults to decrease the momentum and lands on the ground, crouching. Ulrich flies back around and throws two more bombs, Spider-Man evading both.**

** "Who's he?"**

** "Oh, you know our favorite calamari dish." Hobby throws three Razor bats and Arden backflips to avoid them.**

** "So you're working with Ock. Maybe he should have sent you back-up."**

** "Why on Remnant…?" Suddenly lightning strikes the front of Ulrich's glider and he goes down hard. Hobgoblin slides off his glider and lands at the feet of an enraged Storm, dark clouds circling overhead.**

** "Because you now face the wrath of Mother Nature"! Storm declared.**

** Hobgoblin looked worried, but cheered up as a mysterious fog began to set in. The fog got thicker until no one can see anything. "Looks like the good doctor thought of everything, who knew? Sorry to cut this short Wall Crawler, but know that this was just the beginning. See you in court"!**

** Storm threw out her hands and blasted gusts of wind to clear the fog. When she did, there was no sign of Hobgoblin, only Spider-Man right in front of him. "He's gone."**

** "Storm, did you do that?" Arden asked.**

** "No, that fog was not my doing. Something tells me that whoever did conjure it was not too far away."**

** Arden looks past the mutant and over to where his parents, grandfather, and Felicia were comforting and protecting Isis. "Those are questions that will have to wait for another day, but right now, my family needs me." Arden swings off to behind his house and changed. Re-emerging as Arden Ambrose, he ran over to Isis and hugged her, reminding her that she's safe.**

_**Dr. Octavius's Secret Lab, Undisclosed Location, 9:03 pm**_

** Crowded together in a small room, Rhino, Electro, and some new guy in green wearing a purple cape and a glass bowl for a head were waiting for their boss to come out to speak. The dark room was illuminated by the bluish hue radiating off of Electro's body. A television was playing a news cast about the trial of Tyler Stone next week and how it will be the biggest event for years to come.**

** "So Rhino, what's the deal with this Octavius guy?" Electro asked.**

** "Why you asking me?" he replied.**

** "You worked with the guy; I just thought you'd tell us a bit about him."**

** "He's smart and made me strong, that's all you need to hear from me until he comes in here himself so you can ask more stupid questions"!**

** "Whatever." Max turns to the other guy and asks, "What's your story?"**

** The glass bowl man unfurls his cape and states dramatically, "I am Mysterio! Master of Illusions, Conjurer of your deepest fears"!**

** "Are you for real?" Rhino asked.**

** "I assure you Rhino, Mysterio is quite serious." The three turn to see Dr. Octavius enter the room with Hobgoblin and Vulture behind him. "He's also an integral part of our plan." Ock raises a tentacle and taps the T.V screen, referring to the trial. "Gentlemen by this time next week, we six will rule this city and rid ourselves of our greatest obstacle. So hear me my fellow rogues, to what I have in store."**

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**Authors Note: Sorry for the wait, but that ends this arc. As you can imagine what come next, but I'll let Deadpool explain in his next chapter.**

**Next Time: Court is in Session**


End file.
